Tuesday, members of the Fulton City Council approved $500,000 in spending on sewer improvements.
Up to $1 million has been budgeted for an extensive project to line cracked pipes, prevent basement backups and decrease stormwater infiltration across the city.
"We've been mandated by the (Missouri Department of Natural Resources) to tighten up our sanitary sewer system," interim city engineer Kyle Bruemmer said.
He said the city's stormwater processing facility has a capacity of 8 million gallons per day. On a dry day, it typically sees 1.5-2 million gallons. However, after a rain, that volume may swell up to 12 million.
A study previously conducted on the sewer system found up to 2 million of those gallons come from a single area of town - one singled out for special attention in this project.
The money for this project comes from the city's regular sewer repair budget (typically $200,000-$300,000) and savings on a project to rehabilitate the Route O lift station. Originally budgeted at $1.6 million, the city was able to save about half that amount by partnering with a different company.
The plan
An assessment by contractor Burns and McDonnell aided the city in mapping out which areas of town have the most sewer issues. Visu-Sewer will be tasked with scoping out those hotspots and determining the source of the issues.
That could be anything from a tree root jamming up the pipe, to major cracks, a faulty service connection with a homeowner's system. The Visu-Sewer bid includes pricing for fixing pretty much any conceivable issue.
Areas that are cracked but not completely structurally compromised will receive new linings.
Re-lining pipes should also appeal to homeowners in the problem areas, since it doesn't involve digging up people's yards to access the sewer lines.
"Along Randall Street, the line runs behind peoples' houses rather than the road," City Administrator Bill Johnson said. "A lot of them have built fences."
Councilperson Rick Shiverdecker proposed committing the first $500,000 toward the project and seeing what could be completed by the end of the year. More funds can be approved either this year or next year.
Bruemmer is hopeful most of the needed work can be completed by the end of the year.
The council voted unanimously to approve the resolution.
Rec center
Also at Tuesday's meeting, councilors voted to move forward on a multimillion dollar project to construct a new recreation center for the city.
Five city council members voted for the resolution, while Ballard Simmons and Mary Rehklau voted against. Steve Moore was absent.
The winning bid is for $8.89 million from Ashland-based River City Construction.
City council members have not yet settled on the details of the project's funding.
For many more details on the project, watch the Fulton Sun for an extensive article in the near future.
Council members voted to table a contract for another potential parks and recreation project - a proposed six-field baseball/softball complex. A $300,000 bid for site leveling at the Tennyson Road site would have constituted phase one of that project.
Council members tabled that resolution in order to spend more time considering funding for the recreation center project.