The Hillsdale City Council unanimously approved a resolution this week to replace rotting sewer drains beneath M-99.
The resolution calls for replacing 500 linear feet of piping, which will cost $238,000. City Manager David Mackie said that placing the new piping beneath the grass on the side of the road will lower the cost. This could save the city up to $90,000 in overall cost for the project, Mackie said.
In September, the city discovered defective pipes when a city contractor conducted a video inspection of highway M-99. A camera fell into the pipe during the inspection, and when city workers dug the camera out from the pipe, they discovered the rotten lines.
“The entire line, about 1,500 linear feet of it, is in very bad shape,” Mackie said. “The pipes were very brittle. While the contractors were attempting to repair the pipes there were actually sections of the pipe that would break off.”
The repair will occur in two parts. One part will replace the worst parts of the line, and the other will replace the lining within the pipes. According to Mackie, the lining can strengthen existing pipes, which do not have any structural defects, such as significant parts missing.
Mackie said the city will repair the lining first, since it is a more “economical repair.”
During the meeting, the city council also reviewed the financial report from July to September, along with progress on leaf collection.
The first quarter financial report showed city revenues high, from the summer tax collection season, while expenditures in the general fund remained high due to seasonal maintenance costs.
Interim Finance Director Karen Lancaster said seasonal expenditures could distort discrepancies in the report.
“Our revenue looks really stellar right now because we are collecting our tax revenue,” she said. “That’s a big thing during the summertime and so the majority of our tax revenue comes into our revenue higher than what we would anticipate, but that levels out over time.”
Public Services Director Jake Hammel said the second round of leaf collection began this week.
“We have been through the entire system one whole time,” Hammel said. “One thing that has come to light as far as compliance with cars on the street: we have gotten very little compliance there. Also, we didn’t have a lot of piles out, but we are hoping to see an improvement with this next round of collection.”
Hammel said city services would not collect piles of leaves behind cars, due to difficulty maneuvering leaf collection equipment.
The city is asking residents to rake their leaves to the side of the road, beginning on the first day of collection in their ward. Citywide leaf collection is expected to last through Dec. 7.
