By Tim McCarthy
tmccarthy@hgazette.com
—
The City Council on Tuesday approved a funding compromise that will eliminate the need to borrow nearly $45,000 to pay for an engineering study of the downtown flood wall.
The council approved an agreement reached by the council's Natural Resources and Public Buildings subcommittee to use the Combined Sewer Overflow account in the city's wastewater department.
City Councilor Michael Young's research pointed to the account and city attorneys William Cox and Michael Leon, agreed that the account could be used for the project.
Councilors William J. Macek, Young and Sven Amirian all agreed that paying for the study through the Combined Sewer Overflow fund rather than Fiorentini's original request for borrowing was the better choice, and the full council agreed.
"I'm pleased with the compromise," Young said. "We didn't bond for it and didn't go into debt. I don't think people want to spend any more money than they have to."
At first, Young had suggested funding the study through the water department's developer fee account.
Fiorentini was similarly relieved to have both worked out a deal with councilors and avoid taxing residents further.
"I was glad we worked out a compromise," he said.
The mayor had warned the entire council that delaying payment of the survey would mean the city might miss the federal May 20, 2011 deadline for recertification.
The council had rejected the call for bonding twice and suggested it be sent to subcommittee.
The CSO account primarily is used to cover increased maintenance costs to the city's waste water disposal system when storm drain runoff and standard sewer usage combine to overwhelm the system. The city attorney's argued that a flood would ultimately impact this system further and that the condition of the flood wall did have a direct reason for funding via this account.
Public Works Director Michael Stankovich cautioned that bringing the wall back to federal codes will run close to a $1 million, requiring bonding at some point in the process.
He said reconstruction of flash boards across the top of the flood wall will be required. Such boards can run up to $200 per foot, which leaves the city looking at a significant charge were it to cover all 2,200 feet of the wall at a height of at least 3 feet.
Councilor David Hall, who was present for the meeting but not a voting party, wished to reiterate to the mayor and city employees that neither he nor the council would be opposed to bonding during the recertification process, but questioned the need for it with such a small amount at stake for the engineering study.
