Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Emmet Discusses Water Problems

Though Emmet's new water system is in place, there are still problems.

The contractor, Underground Utility Services of Crossett, completed the installation of the water lines and fire hydrants last month, but has, so far, failed to clean up after himself, so to speak.

Additionally, the contractor has not repaired three fire hydrants.

This information was imparted to the Emmet City Council at its regular monthly meeting Wednesday, Nov. 10.

Emmet Mayor Dale Booker said the contractor has moved the equipment and personnel out of town to another project, but hasn't cleaned up the right of ways, nor yards of homes where the line went through.

In some instances, homeowners are unable to mow their yards where the water line was installed because of the mess.

Booker said it's not Emmet's responsibility to clean up after the contractor, but should be done by Underground Utility Services as agreed in the contract.

Currently, he said, $52,000 is being withheld from the contract payment until all work is complete as specified.

Another $24,000 is being held in liquidated damages because the contractor failed to make the agreed upon deadline. Booker said the time charges on the job have been stopped as the system is in and working.

However, he added, the job is not complete. Booker will be sending the engineering firm, Christian Brothers of Texarkana, a letter to be given to the contractor outlining the problems.

The letter will specify a period of time the contractor has to return and finish the work, or the bond company will be contacted so the job can be completed as specified under terms of the contract.

Booker said the contractor did offer a proposal, but the Emmet mayor almost laughed at him after hearing it.

According to Booker, the contractor repeatedly complained one area where water lines were to be installed was always too wet to dig. The contractor, instead of digging, bored a hole for the water line adding $11,000 to his cost.

He offered to forego this extra cost, which was not covered under the contract, if the city would use the money toward getting the mess left cleaned up.

"It's not a good situation," Booker said. "I don't plan on letting the people of Emmet be run over with their yards in bad condition and can't be mowed."

He continued saying the city will not do any cleanup on the project as it is the contractor's responsibility and should have been cleaned up before this.

A large hole has been left unfilled at the old Arkla plant, he said, with the dirt in a pile to be backfilled in. This, too, was to be done by the contractor.

"The contractor has brought this on himself," Booker told the panel.

The contractor, he said, also complained about being shorted when paid.

During the construction phase, Booker explained, the payments made were based on rough field measurements of the work actually completed. Before the final measurement was taken, he said, the contractor was complaining about being shorted.

The engineering firm and a representative for the contractor returned to Emmet and measured the job. The final payment to the contractor for work done was $12,000.

A check for this amount will be cut and sent to the contractor.

Booker said when the work crews were installing the hydrants, they weren't as careful about keeping grit out as they should have been. This led to three fire hydrants being damaged and needing to be repaired.

Repairing the hydrants will be done by the contractor.

In other business, Booker said the city is doing major reconstruction of all the city's streets to get them prepared for winter.

This is being done to help prevent water damage during the colder months of the year.

Because of the extra work on the streets, Booker asked the council to allow an additional $5,000 be transferred from city general fund to the street department budget to help pay for the extra materials and work.

The council also discussed drawing up an ordinance to charge people for the city cleaning up their property.

Booker said the biggest problem is with absentee owners, or landowners who don't live in Emmet. The grass on these lots only gets mowed when city crews do it, and, he added, it isn't right for the citizens of Emmet to have to foot the bill.

The ordinance, as the council agreed to have drawn up, will require the property owners to be contacted and told to keep their land up or the city will have to charge them for doing it.

The bill will be, Booker said, attached to the property tax being paid on the land. When the property tax is paid, Emmet will be 100 percent of the costs the city incurred for maintaining the lots.

At a later meeting the council will discuss what constitutes a reasonable cost for cleaning up the property. The costs will be established based on time, labor and equipment used.

Normally, Booker said, changing topics, the city's budget is done in December. However, because of the water system, the Farmer's Home Administration is requiring a budget for the water department be completed before Dec. 1.

A special meeting of the Emmet City Council will be called later this month to address this issue.

The final order of business was Booker notifying the council of a Christmas Supper planned for the council and volunteer fire department on Dec. 16.

The supper, he said, will be held at Western Sizzlin in Hope and invitations will be sent out to all involved.

This, he said, is the city's way of showing the firemen how much they are appreciated.