The Picayune City Council heard an update on the Pearl River County Utility Authority and approved a request to advertise for the Memorial Boulevard overlay and Hwy. 43 lighting projects at Tuesday’s meeting.
Mike Caples, interim active executive director for the utility authority, told the council that there is going to be a lot of construction going on in the city for the next two years.
“We just started Monday undertaking a $5 million rehab of the sewer lines within the city,” Caples said. “We have crews working on the north side of Hwy.11 to the river, cleaning and videoing lines and will return to make repairs as need be.”
Part of this process includes smoke testing, Caples said, crews will pump smoke into the lines and if there are holes or cracks smoke will leak out. Notifications to residents will be sent out to inform them of the testing.
“Our goal is to bring the city’s sewer system up to at least the 19th century,” Caples said. “When it rains we treat twice as much water.”
Caples said there are three crews out cleaning lines and looking for breaks using smoke testing and camera inspections.
Suncoast Infrastructure, Inc. is the subcontractor and will begin Monday on a two-year contract, Caples said.
“Based on large flow studies, for every gallon of water you are selling in the city we’re treating two gallons,” Caples said. “During the months we have 15 to 16 inches of rainfall; we’re treating a lot of rainwater. Our goal right now is to clean the 10 deepest basins that are the largest in the city and clean and video all the lines that we can.”
Caples said utility rates will not be rising. The project has been worked into the budget over the past couple of years.
In a separate matter, the council approved the city engineer’s request to advertise for bids for the Memorial Boulevard overlay and Hwy. 43 lighting projects.
City Engineer Brooks Wallace said the overlaying of Memorial Boulevard will begin at Interstate 59 going west to East Jerusalem Avenue.
“That’s a rough stretch of pavement right there, this project will fix it,” Wallace said. “Street lights will be installed on Hwy. 43 from Hwy. 11 to the interstate.”
The advertising for bids will occur within the next two weeks, Wallace said. Bids will be opened in late November and a projected start date is January 2015. The project will take about six months to complete, Wallace said.
In other action the council approved:
• To proclaim September and October as Histiocytosis Awareness months. According to histio.org, histiocytic disorders occur when there is an over-production of white blood cells known as histiocytes that can lead to organ damage and tumor formation.
• Accepting an $11,000 donation to be used for the Main Street parking project. City Manager Jim Luke said this project will add about 16 to 18 additional parking spaces on North Main Street. The parking spaces will resemble the paving brick similar to the parking lot located across from P.J.’s Coffee.
• Setting a date for property cleanups at N. Jackson Ave., 921 Idlewild Dr., Culpepper St., 221 Clark St., 1207 Roosevelt St., 809 Third St., 150 Tennyson Cove, 708 Bennett St., 1100 Parkwood Cr., 2206 Morris St., Morris St., Williamsburg Rd., 316 Third St., 1316 7th Ave., 1320 7th Ave. and 303 South Gray. The hearing was scheduled for Nov. 18 at 5 p.m.
• Applying for a grant through the Lower River Valley Foundation for the development of Crosby Commons.
The next city council meeting will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 21 at 5 p.m.