City Manager Glen Wagner gave a report at a recent meeting. He reported that Linda Wallace was scheduled to appear before Council in October on behalf of the Pee Dee Coalition in recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness month; however, the October meeting was cancelled due to Hurricane Matthew. We put her on the agenda for November to give her another opportunity to present to Council but she asked to come back in April 2017. She sent her thanks to the Council for all that they have done for the Pee Dee Coalition. City Manager Glen Wagner updated Council on the various water and sewer projects of the City. Their portion of the sewer line relocation at the Highway 301 river bridge has been completed. The Perdue lift station and Commerce Drive life station project is 95% completed. They are waiting on a scaling system that will alert Hardy Jackson when something is out of whack. Wagner said these lift stations are also where we have had odor problems so we are trying to make sure enough lime is being fed into the system to combat the small, which is caused by hydro-sulfuric acid. He reminded Council of what the engineer, Mike Hanna, said about things being alright when you could still smell an odor, but no smell could be bad.
The orbal basin project at the wastewater treatment plant was also 95% completed. We are just waiting for the contractor to come and do a punch list. They should be finished by the first of the year. There was a sinkhole during the storm along Deerwood Avenue. It cost the city about $35,000 to repair about 50 feet of concrete pipe. This cost included use of bypass pumps for one week. Several more feet of pipe needs to be repaired, but the contractors were able to get to a good stopping point for now. The state took up the cost to resurface the road. A bid opening for the water tank project was held on December 1st then we will have a meeting for our SRF loan.
As far as the insurance claims, Wagner reported the adjusters have been here to look at everything with the biggest cost being our City Shop with estimated repairs of $50,000 to include tearing out walls. They did not have flood insurance but the vehicles and buildings were covered per Janet. Wagner had turned in $1.3M in damages to FEMA. The Council on Aging building suffered $7,500-$10,000 in damages with 3-4 feet of wall being removed. They had roof damage to the house by the spray-fields and to the Wellness Center. The Wellness Center roof had been repaired November 14; it was a portion of roof over the gymnasium. Councilman Eller asked if they were dealing with just one insurance company. Finance Director Janet Bethea said yes. Wagner said FEMA would come in after the insurance adjuster. Mayor Davis asked if FEMA will help with the debris. Glen said they will help with labor costs. We collected 1,000 tons or 2,000,000 pounds of debris. The City Manager also announced that if property owners are getting trees cut down, then the contractor is responsible for removing the debris. They City will not pick it up.
Councilman Eller asked if the City had flood insurance. He was told that our vehicles and equipment are covered for flood damage under comp and collision. Councilman Eller then asked what newest piece of equipment we have that needs repairs. Street Superintendent Burt Rogers said that most of the equipment had already been repaired and the insurance company will reimburse us or help us pay for more repairs. The Bobcats were a total loss and also some vehicles. Lastly, Glen said there is still some debris out there and will take some time to remove. He said residents were thankful to the City for picking up after the storm.