Village of Riverlea Committee on Infrastructure
Meeting minutes
May 4, 2020
The Riverlea Committee on Infrastructure met at 7:00 pm on Monday, May 4th. The meeting was held on-line via Zoom due to the restrictions on public gatherings. The meeting was posted and open to the public. The following people were in attendance: Marc Benevento (Chair), Dan Schlichting (Council member), Bill Charles (Street Commissioner), Greg Ross (volunteer), and Scott Flores (volunteer). Eric MacGilvray (Mayor) and Jim Dippel and Josh Ford of Burgess and Niple attended as a guest of the Committee to share updates on infrastructure project work.
Meeting Agenda:
- Approval of minutes from the January meeting
- Sanitary sewer internal inspection proposal
- Street project follow up items
- Lift station improvement: progress & next steps
- Comment on asset management plan
- New Business
The meeting was called to order at 7:02. The chairperson volunteered to take minutes.
1.Meeting minutes from the January 2020 meeting had been circulated ahead of time and were approved as written.
2. Discussion of the sanitary sewer internal inspection proposal was moved forward because Josh Ford of Burgess & Niple was attending solely to discuss the proposal and address questions. The cost estimate of $69,900 includes CCTV inspection and GIS mapping of the entire system, plus reserves for light and heavy cleaning that may be required. The proposal for the work would not exceed this amount and could be less.
GIS, or smart mapping, of the system represented a small portion of the overall cost of the proposal. This would allow the location of breaks, roots, and laterals to be indexed on a searchable map. This would provide an easy way to compare the condition of the sewer over time and to adjust inspection intervals to the actual condition of the sewer.
The estimate was significantly higher than the $29,000 estimated as the cost of inspection at 10-year intervals in the maintenance proposal. Jim speculated that the maintenance estimate was for inspection of half of the system at each inspection.
Due to the overall cost of the proposal, the question was raised if Council could approve the work without soliciting another bid. The Mayor felt it may depend if this service is within the Village’s contract with B&N. The Chair agreed to check with the Solicitor to determine if the proposal could be taken to Council without a second bid.
3. Street project follow up
Follow up on issues that require resolution prior to expiration of 1-year warranty that expires in June 2020.
- Grass seed: B&N conducted a preliminary walk through of the village and identified properties that may not have 70% grass coverage in areas seeded last Fall. A final determination will be made by B&N and a list of properties that qualify for remediation will be provided to the Village for review before they are submitted to Elite.
- 5690 Olentangy drainage issue: Decker indicated plans to conduct the repair in early May. At the same time, they will make warranty repairs to the drive apron at 49 Southington and conduct non-warranty work to the curb on Crescent.
- Sink hole at southwest of Olentangy and Southington intersection: during rains, water has been flowing over the curb from the ground behind the curb, creating a small sink hole at this location. The owner has indicated there is no sprinkler system or sump pump outlets in this area. Although there is speculation that the water could be related to the hydrant that was removed from this area, it is not clear what is causing the issue. In order to identify the cause of this issue, the area will need to be excavated. The committee felt it was necessary to proceed because the issue is likely to continue to worsen over time, and since it has been noticed coincident to the construction project, there is a good chance it will be handled under warranty.
- Drainage issues: Areas that appear to be draining improperly as a result of poor or improper grading were identified. The mayor indicated that water may be draining across the intersection of Falmouth and Frontenac after heavy rains, rather than staying in the gutter. He asked if the grade of the street could be checked in that location. In addition, the Northwest side of the circle on Riverglen accumulated a significant amount of ice during cold stretches this winter. At 5840 Westchester (corner of Westchester & Southington) water is moving to the street rather than the Southeast corner storm sewer inlet). On Westchester, there may be some flat spots where water is settling in the gutter pan.
- It has been difficult to determine if water does not drain to the storm sewers because many of the gutters and storm sewer inlets contain leaves and debris. The Committee discussed if the Village could require residents to keep the gutter pan clear of debris, and the Chair offered to follow up with the Solicitor to get a legal opinion. The Village could also consider using a street sweeper at intervals, and the Committee discussed one sweeping in Fall and another in Spring to keep the gutters clear and operating properly. The latest cost estimate obtained by the Street Commissioner was roughly $1500 per occasion to sweep the village.
4. Lift station inspection report & next steps
The Street Commissioner had not yet had the opportunity to perform a site assessment and develop a plan with B&N. However, preliminary visit sot the site suggests the best location for a generator may be East of the lift station in a clearing that exists. This would be out of view from the home on the adjacent lot.
B&N reported they had not been able to get an estimate for the cleaning and repair of the concrete and rebar on the lift station and speculated that the job may be too small to garner interest. However, they will make additional efforts to get estimates for the work.
The Street Commissioner indicated that clean-out of the stormwater filtration system on Olentangy would occur on the upcoming Wednesday, May 6th and invited B&N to join him for an opportunity to conduct a site assessment.
5. Comment on Asset Management Plan: Discussion about how the document would be best put to use by the Village. It is desired for the document to be a “user’s guide” for the Village infrastructure, with an index of the primary systems and regular maintenance items in the Executive Summary, which could indicate where more detailed information could be found in the report. It was suggested that annual maintenance could be summarized in the report, as well as other maintenance or inspection s that should occur at regular intervals. It could also be a living document that is used to track what maintenance has taken place, by whom, and at what cost to serve as a record for the Village. B&N noted that some information, such as details of lift station pumps, still needed to be added to the report.