Councilman Collins resigns; city council approves tires for VFD, postpones discussion about purchasing new SCBAs

The Gainesville City Council accepted the resignation of east ward alderman Seth Collins during the July 11 meeting. Lana Bushong, Dana Crisp, Treva Warwick and Renee Schmucker were in attendance. Teri Edades was absent. Also attending were Gainesville Mayor Gail Reich, city clerk Lisa Goodnight, city water specialist Jessi Price, city maintenance supervisor Mike Davis and Gainesville interim fire chief Kevin Piland.
In his resignation letter, Collins said his work schedule made it difficult to attend council meetings, and he would like to spend more time with his family when he’s off work.
Antler water leak
Rhonda Paddock, manager of Antler Package & Pizza in Gainesville, addressed the council concerning a water leak discovered at the business in hopes of finding a solution to fix the leak. The Antler is also asking for a reduction in the water bill overages that the restaurant has incurred before the leak was discovered.
“So they’ve got a water leak where the meter is,” Price told the council. “It’s located on the side of the building…in between the building and the road [close to Antler’s storage area.] It’s all in concrete. The only thing that isn’t concrete is the little lid.”
According to Price, Davis pumped the water out of the small area but was unable to discover if the meter is leaking or if the leak is inside the building and following the pipe.
The meter will need to be dug out to discover where the leak is. However, Davis told the council that since the city doesn’t own the concrete where the meter is, The Antler will have to drill through the concrete so the city will not be liable for any damages to that area.
Price said she informed The Antler owners and manager that if the leak is found to be at the meter, the city would normally refund the water bill overage because it is the city’s equipment that caused the problem. However, if the leak was found to be on The Antler’s side of the meter the restaurant would still have to pay the water charges. If that is the case, The Antler could request that the city council refund the sewer part of the bill because the water went into the ground and never entered the sewer.
Paddock and Antler Maintenance Manager Justin Bell agreed to the terms of the city.
Fire Department Report
According to Piland’s report, the most pressing matter for the fire department at the moment is the tires for the department’s rescue truck. Piland presented bids for tires.
According to Goodnight, the department received a $4,600 and $4,100 depending on the type of tire. Piland also requested a bid from 160 Pit Stop in Gainesville. They bid the drive tires at $623.93 each and the steering tires is $671.83 each. Two steer tires and four drive tires are needed for the truck, for a total bid of just over $3,800.
According to Piland, the tires would replace the current tires which have been on the truck since 2004.
The council unanimously accepted the bid from 160 Pit Stop.
Piland also asked the council to approve the purchase of new cab latches, which are used to lock the cab down on the rescue truck. Piland said the current latches were leaking hydraulic fluid, preventing the ability to lock the cab down. He told the council that without the latches, the cab could come off the truck if a driver slammed on the brakes.
Piland said he called places in six states to price the latches. The lowest price was in Eureka, Missouri, at $277.04 each. Piland said other places were selling the latches for more than $500 each.
The council unanimously approved Piland’s request.
Piland also informed the council that after four new valves for the SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus) equipment were repaired, the department would only have “eight good bottles and eight good valves and that’s it. We should have 16.”
“That should be plenty,” said Reich.
“Eight only equips one truck and that’s it,” said Piland.
“Well, we don’t have that many firefighters,” said Reich.
“We’ve got nine right now,” Piland told Reich.
“We’ve got enough for everybody to have one,” Reich said.
“So we’re just going to run one truck?” Piland asked. “We can’t rig the ladder [truck] with SCBAs. We don’t have any [for it], and you can’t run it without it. [The SCBAs are] what you would wear when you go into a structure fire.”
“But are you going to have all the firefighters there at one time?” asked Reich. “They’re all volunteers, so how many would you have on average? Four?”
“It depends…” said Piland. “But sometimes you would take the ladder if it’s a three-story. You must have eight (SCBAs) on each truck.…I’m just trying to get enough to just let us run and let us operate,” said Piland. “I’m not asking for anything extra.”
“What I’m not understanding is that if we don’t have this then what have we been doing?” asked Reich.
Piland told the council and mayor that the cylinders the department had leaked, and others were bought in 2005 and they are only good for 10 years. “The bottles are completely outdated. We can’t use them at all.”
“You’ll have to take the truck that has the bottles on it,” said Schmucker.
“The ladder truck doesn’t need to go to that many calls,” said Reich.
“It goes to quite a few,” said Piland. “Sometimes if you’re over 300 feet then you have to have two trucks – one as a booster truck, one as a pumper truck. And I know it’s a lot to understand, and that’s why I’m trying to help you guys understand how that works.”
Reich said the council needed more information on pricing before they made a decision. She asked that Piland check into the prices, and the issue would be addressed in the next council meeting.
“I know there is stuff that is going to be needed, but we can’t replace and buy everything at one time,” said Reich.
“Once we get it to where we can just operate it and be where we should be legal wise, then we can file for grants first and then use budgets after that,” said Piland.
“We do have a grant coming up that we might be able to get some of this stuff,” said Reich.
Water and maintenance reports
Davis told the council that he had to buy two new sewer pumps at $300 each to replace pumps that quit working.
He also informed the council that there are places in the system that the pumps and controllers are “wore out. To change everything, the electrician told us we’re going to have to put new controllers with the new pumps. So we’re having to buy new controllers and new pumps to put in place [of the ones] that are bad.
“To get us through for now,” added Price. “We’re hoping the grant, when we get that going…if there’s enough left over allotted for new pump stations, controllers, everything, then we’ll have every one up to date.”
Davis said the two new sewer pumps arrived Thursday morning. He also reported that his employees found four more leaks in the water lines on the west side of the city.
“Whoever put the water lines in years ago, they just put in whatever they could, so I’ve had to order extra repair clamps because I don’t know once we dig them up…I don’t know what clamp it’s going to take to fix it.
“So I’ve had to order six new clamps and they range from $180-something to $300 a piece. And the sewer pumps is almost $1,800 a piece.
“Everything’s getting old and wearing out all at once,” said Reich.
“So we’re kind of waiting on the grant that way on the sewer we can have all the pumps redone at the grant’s cost instead of the city’s,” said Davis.
Price informed the council that the grant will go out to bid this fall.
“Just right around the corner,” said Reich.
Davis suggested that for a couple of residences the city look into the cost of putting in a septic system because of the cost of [lift] sewer pumps. “Because a couple of them are having to pump so far and it’s working the dickens out of the [lift] pumps.”
“So putting in a septic system at those houses instead of a lift pump?” asked Schmucker.
“Yes,” answered Davis. “[In one area] it’s got two houses on it, and it’s having to pump about 400 feet and we’ve put two new pumps in…because both pumps went out and the controllers all burn up, exploded and that.
“You see on that one, you put in two $1,800 pumps in it and I think $400 controller.”
“Might be cheaper to put in a septic,” said Reich. “Do they have room for a septic?”
“I don’t know,” answered Davis.
Crisp asked if an engineer would be needed for a septic system in those areas.
“Not if it’s not hooked into the city sewer,” answered Price. “And it won’t be able to be hooked into city sewer. We wouldn’t have anything to do with it after it was installed.”
Price informed the council that city ordinance says that if someone builds a new house or a new establishment in the city, they have to hook into the city sewer system, if city sewer is available - or they have to buy their own pump station, and in that situation they would be responsible for it. Another option is that the council could approve a variance for a septic.
Price reported that water loss has been up on all three sides of the city, but the four leaks found on the west side are ready to be repaired. One leak was found in the center and is ready to dig up.
“We ordered extra things because we never know what we’re going to dig up,” said Price.
She also reported that 12 meters were replaced, and one leak on the west side and one leak in the center district were repaired.
Price presented bids to the council for four manhole covers on County Road 806 near the sheriff’s department, to replace the ones in need of repair. The council postponed action on accepting bids until the next meeting in order in order to clarify costs.
Because only one bid was submitted, the council also postponed acceptance of bids for striping the square so more bids could be considered.
MoDOT traffic study
Goodnight reported on the possibility of a MoDOT traffic study that was requested in light of a June wreck at the junction of Highways 160 and 5 north involving two semis and two passenger vehicles.
According to Jonathan Smith from MoDOT Safety, the conditions at the junction do not meet the requirements for a traffic light. However, Goodnight reported that MoDOT has ordered signage that says “something like ‘Cross Traffic Does Not Stop’ to be placed on Highway 5 from the south.”
She also told the council that MoDOT was considering taking out the flashing light currently at the intersection due to possible confusion that drivers coming from Highway 5 north may have about the intersection being a four-way stop.
“I asked him about speed limits and he said they are perfectly willing to do a speed limit study,” said Goodnight. However, Smith said MoDOT has found that “speed wasn’t the issue in most of these accidents, it was confusion.”
Goodnight said Smith wants the council’s opinion on the matter.
The council expressed their desire for another speed study to be conducted.