Council OKs money for sewer cleaner
Columbia Falls City Council members on Monday agreed to spend $324,865 to buy a truck to clean out city sewer lines.
The council voted 6-1 to buy a Camel sewer jet truck built by Super Products, following the recommendation of Public Works Director Lorin Lowry and city employees.
The pusher-plate style truck can compact solid debris loads and separate out liquid waste not accepted at the landfill.
Lowry said the vehicle will be more sanitary for city workers and more efficient than a tip-style dump truck offered by Aquatech that would have cost about $36,000 less.
The city aims to clean every stretch of its estimated 350,000 feet of sewer lines at least once every five years, Lowry said.
“To do that is time, labor and people. [This] allows our people to be in the field cleaning pipes and compacting their loads to make one trip to the landfill that’s fully loaded,” Lowry said.
The truck should last for at least 30 years, Lowry said.
The city is funding the purchase with an equal combination of cash on hand and a 10-year loan from the state.
A representative from Aquatech told council members they would have been better served by that company’s style of truck.
In other business, council members passed a resolution that finalizes wage increases that were negotiated with police and Teamster employees and included in the recently adopted city budget, as required by state law.
Their wage scales were increased by about 2 percent for fiscal year 2011-12 and the resolution extended those increases to both non-union employees and supervisors, as has been done in the past, City Manager Susan Nicosia said.
Nicosia provided a brief update on the Third Avenue East bike path, telling council members that bids for the project came in higher than the estimated cost for the project.
“We had estimated $137,000 for the project, including engineering and the low bid for construction came in at just over $168,000,” she said.
City officials hoped to award a bid for the bike path Monday. The path would run from U.S. 2 to River’s Edge Park.
Nicosia said she plans to ask the county commissioners to tap a fresh infusion of funding from the community transportation enhancement program to cover the rest of the cost.
In other discussions, council members learned that the Montana Municipal Insurance Authority settled a lawsuit that had been filed against the city.
The lawsuit was filed by a driver involved in an accident who alleged that a shrub had blocked his view of oncoming traffic and contributed to the wreck.
According to Nicosia, the incident has caused the city to be more proactive about making sure drivers have a clear view of oncoming traffic on city streets.
“Originally our ordinance required a complaint, but we’re taking a more proactive approach so if our employees are driving around they’ll take care of something if they see it,” she said of visual obstructions.
Finally, council members learned of a pending case in City Court that is the first alleged violation of city park rules adopted in 2009.
The park rules state dogs need to be kept on a leash and require owners to clean up after their pets.
The case is the first citation and a result of more active enforcement ordered after public complaints, Nicosia said.
“We received numerous complaints about how you can’t even walk through the park without having all these dogs or dog waste, so at the last council meeting we said, ‘Look, we have all these rules, let’s enforce them,’” she said.
Nicosia said violators of the park rules face up to $500 in fines and as much as six months in jail.
The Columbia Falls also:
Approved the appointment of probationary volunteer firefighter Zane Brown, who was sworn in by City Manager Susan Nicosia.• Presented 5-year service pins to Public Works Director Lorin Lowry and City Manager Susan Nicosia.
Approved an interlocal agreement with School District No. 6 for street sweeping and flushing services.• Approved a public water line and appurtenances easement with Northwest Healthcare Corp.