Who's Watching Contract 2005-060A?

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City Council has approved $36,829 to be taken from the Storm Water Pipe Fund; Account No. 506-7005-01.6018 Act. No. 06074 to pay for a 16% increase in the contract amount with Action Greensboro, Inc. to construct the City's new streetscape abutting Center City Park.

The original agreement was to replace a failing storm sewer outfall for the purpose of providing storm water runoff for Elm Street and Friendly Ave.

I wonder just how bad that storm sewer was. Has anyone every notice water backing up at this intersection? I know that I am a big advocate of taking care of what we have; but, I think that this is one of those "iffy" projects.

This item was #26 on the May 2, 2006 Consent Agenda. This is the first change order on contract 2005-060A which was set up to track these expenditures. The reason given for this increase "The actual underground conditions encountered required a change in the original scope of work and additional costs."

Just thought someone should try to keep citizens informed about the amount of city money that is going into the privately-owned park at Friendly and Elm streets.

I think that since this amount is coming from the Storm Water Pipe Fund, it is in addition to the money already allocated from Greensboro City Funds for streetscaping around the park.

Is this the case? Is that why there had to be a separate vote on this allocation? The contact person at Greensboro Engineering & Inspections Department is Ted Kellam, 373-2302.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

We keep spending taxpayer money for that park. It is the park that we defeated in a bond referendum several years ago.

Anonymous said...

Diane, is this money taken from funds that are to be used to repair sewer drains so sewage doesn't overflow onto the streets? It's a darn good thing we have been in a drought these past three years isn't it? BB

Diane Grey Davis said...

Hey BB,

I think this is a different fund. It is primarily for storm sewers and drains that catch rain water and other runoff from streets and parks and rooftops.

There are two types of sewer pipes. One carries waste water to a treatment plant, the other carries untreated ground water to creeks.

I think I am explaining this correctly.

Sometimes when there is HEAVY RAIN and OLD DAMAGED PIPES, neither system can handle the flow and ground water gets into drain pipes that are headed for treatment plants. This causes leakage of raw sewage. That is one of the causes of untreated sewage overflow.

Greensboro is currently working to repair many of these old drains by re-lining them to prevent leaks. Some are being replaced to carry larger volumes of water. This is a long, expensive project which was put off for too long.