A quick, but studious, commission meeting set several projects in motion last week as the city continues to prepare for improvements.
Walden Lake’s Concord Way subdivision will soon be seeing some stormwater repairs following the structural failing of two inlets at the location.
The city had been aware of the issue for some time and the failing inlets in question ultimately led to issues with storm water draining, the surrounding roadway, curb and land features.
“These things fail slowly over time,” McDaniel said. “It was brought to our attention through a combination of resident, HOA and city staff observations and we’ve been working on that for about four months, I would say, getting all the designs, going through procurement and doing all the things we do.”
The city advertised the listing for the job on March 21 and, by April 25, five bids were received for the project. The companies ranged from offering to complete the job for anywhere from $54,4665 to $98,433.
The most responsible bid was also the lowest response this time and the city was asked to hire Blacktip Services, Inc. to tackle the inlets and piping repair. The job will replace two inlets and the adjoining pipe and the roadway surrounding the area in question will need to have milling and resurfacing done to complete the project.
Flooding has not yet been a major issue for the area, but the city hopes the improved roadway will help to also provide proper rain water runoff drainage to the area.
“What this was actually doing, like so many of them do with time, was it was starting to buckle and cause irregularities in the pavements,” McDaniel said.
Commissioners approved the hiring of Blacktip Services, Inc. in an unanimous vote on May 13. The $54,465 will come from the CIP #SW014 – Stormwater Drainage Pipe Rehabilitation funds.
The city also agreed to purchase a drainage pipe CCTV inspection system and a wireless pole camera for the city’s stormwater crew.
The stormwater crew handles the investigation of depressions that occur throughout the city in paved streets and determines if the cause could require the inspection of the drainage pipes in the area. To do this, they use CCTV. Currently, the division has had to borrow equipment from the Water and Sewer Department or establish a contract with an outside vendor to get the job done.
This has caused many delays over the years in determining solutions to the various problems that pop up, and to streamline the process, the commissioners unanimously agreed to purchase an Envirosight Rovver X CCTV Inspection System and an Envirosight Quickview AirHD Wireless Pole Camera from the Environmental Products of Florida Corporation via the City of Tallahassee Contract.
The equipment cost the city $88,610.91 and came from the city’s Stormwater Fund.
Once the equipment is in the hands of the city crews, they can go the same day a pavement depression is reported and determine the cause of the indention. The remedial work will be done immediately allowing the next phases to get put in motion much faster.
The Drainage Pipe CCTV Inspection System comes with “a controller with Vision Report software, an automatic cable reel with 1,000-foot cable, a wireless remote controller, a reel-mounting frame and an emergency stop cable. The crawler comes with three sets of rubber wheels for 6” to 16” pipe diameter and quick disconnect wheels for drainage pipe larger than 15”.”
The camera is controlled via remote control and can pan, tilt and zoom with the click of a button to easily determine any pipe problems. The wireless pole camera the city purchased comes with a carrying case, rechargeable batteries, charger and a tablet for control and viewing.