Public Works Improvements For Spring

Anita Weston, Reporter

Rich Civic Times 

GARDEN CITY, Utah.  April 2013. Riley Argyle, Supervisor of the Public Works Department, reported that the water line repair at Lakota will be pushed back until fall.  Because of the additional snow and cold weather this spring, it is going to be too late to make the changes needed there until later in the year. 

The new street lights will be put up as soon as possible.  All of the needed changes and additions to the lights have been made.  The location of the lights has also been determined. 

The gun range plans are moving forward.  It has been referred to as the Bear Lake Gun Range.  Perhaps that is the best name for it because the City is partnering with the County on the project..

There are at least four companies that are definitely interested in bidding on the water meter project.  Hopefully this project will be completed before Memorial Day.  Some meters are in confined spaces and require more time and extra work.  Minutes were taken at the pre bid meeting.  The confined space requirements are an addendum to the bid to make sure that everything meets OSHA requirements.   

There are still two meters in Idaho that need to be installed.  There have also been two meters that have gone bad after only six months of use.  Kits have been ordered to repair the meters, and steps have been take to determine the reason for the meter problem. 

The mapping on the GIS System is going really well.  Over 100 valve locations have been put into the system.  It is very impressive to see how it is working and how helpful it is going to be. 

Heritage Park plans are also in the conceptual state.  The parking lot location is of particular interest.  The Army Corp. of Engineers will be looking at the pond tomorrow at 10 a.m. and will also check on the First West road coming into the park on the East side.  The City needs to get a few more loads of bentonite since there is still some areas where the pond is leaking.  Argyle is currently looking into the price of bentonite. 

Bark is going to be spread around some of the areas at the water treatment plant.  There are some small issues at the plant.  If the electricity flickers, the computers sense this and kick in the generators and treat it like a full outage. That requires individuals to go to the plant and get things back on line.  There have also been some chlorine problem, but things seem to be working fine now. 

An OSHA representative has been in Garden City doing an audit to make sure the City is in compliance with all OSHA requirements.  A list of changes and requirements has been left for the City to take care of to make sure they are up-to-date.   Argyle indicated that the department will be working on this list as quickly and often as possible to make sure everything is current and acceptable to OSHA.  Argyle asked that the Council increase the safety budget because there are some pieces of equipment and procedures that need to be put in place in order to become compliant.  Right now, at least $6,000 is needed to bring some items into line.

A seasonal job listing has been posted.  The individual from last year did a good job and will be working again this year.  A second person, however, will be needed. 

The bike path is going well.  Signs need to be painted on the path indicating that no motorized vehicles are allowed on the path.  Also some additional signs need to be placed on the bike path for safety items.

 

 Argyle was asked to check the gates on the beach access roads.  Currently some of them have been damaged and probably need to be replaced. 

Currently individuals in the City pay $35 a month for 15,000 gallons of water.  The water impact fees are not high enough and penalties for not paying for water are not as high as in other communities.  It was noted that members of the community will probably have to be charged a higher price–perhaps $45 - $50 a month for water in the near future depending on the results of the current water study that is being done.