City Council - Regular Meeting

Invocation tonight will be led by me. In respects to the flag, it will be led by Councilman Greg Steele. Please rise. Father, we thank you for today. We thank you for the many opportunities that you have bestowed upon our city. We ask that you keep all of us safe and welcome home, especially our teammates that are outward facing to the public. We ask that you give this political body the discernment and the judgment to make decisions that are right and fair to all our citizens. We ask all these things in your name. Amen. We've got a couple items before our business meeting, and the first one will be a special presentation on the police department's accreditation. Mr. McEwen.

Thank you, Councilman Mayer. I appreciate this opportunity to have this presentation before you. Working on the Police Department accreditation has been a goal of our Public Safety Department, specifically the Police Department, to acquire. It sets the highest standards for law enforcement, and it's quite a task to take on. And so it's been a lot of hard work through the department and the administration and everybody involved across both the department Police Division and also the Detention Division of the Police Department. With that, I'll call Chief Jim Stewart off to start the presentation.

Thank you, sir, and thank you, Councilman Mayer. I'd like to recognize Trevor Hall, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Accreditation. Before we start, I'd like to ask Major Carson and the command staff to come down. Maybe just follow him on the side. Everybody had a part.

Good evening, Mayor, members of Council, Chief Stewart, and members of the Anderson Police Department. My name is Trevor Hall, and I'm here tonight on behalf of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Accreditation Council. In my full-time role, I am also the Public Safety Loss Control Consultant with the Municipal Association and work regularly with Chief Stewart. I have the privilege of working with agencies across South Carolina that are committed to professional excellence, including your Anderson Police Department. Tonight is my honor to recognize the Anderson Police Department for achieving South Carolina law enforcement accreditation. Accreditation is a voluntary process that requires an agency to demonstrate compliance with rigorous professional standards governing administration, operations, training, accountability, and service to the community. It is more than a review of policies. It's a commitment to continuous improvement and to providing the highest level of professional law enforcement services to the citizens you serve. To earn this distinction, the Anderson Police Department successfully completed a comprehensive review of its policies, procedures, and operations, followed by an independent on-site assessment conducted by trained evaluators. This is no small accomplishment. This achievement belongs to the entire Anderson Police Department. It reflects the dedication of every member of the organization, and I'd like to offer special recognition to the department's accreditation manager and command staff, whose leadership, attention to detail, and countless hours of work helped make this achievement possible. Chief Stewart, thank you for your leadership and your commitment to fostering a culture of professionalism and accountability. On behalf of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Accreditation Council, it is my privilege to present the Anderson Police Department with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Accreditation Award. Congratulations on this outstanding achievement, and thank you for your continued service to the citizens of Anderson.

On behalf of the men and women of the Anderson Police Department, I want to express our sincere appreciation to South Carolina Law Enforcement Accreditation Council for this incredible honor. Today is a proud day in the history of our department. By receiving state accreditation, the APD has become the 25th municipal police department in the state to earn this distinction. We are honored to join this outstanding group of agencies committed to the highest standard of professional law enforcement. Accreditation is much more than their certificate on the wall. It represents a commitment to accountability, integrity, professionalism, and a continuous improvement. It demonstrates our community we provide the highest level of service while continually evaluating and improving the job that we do. This achievement belongs to every employee of our department. Accreditation touches every aspect of our operation, and every member of our organization played a role in this part. Tonight I'd especially like to recognize our accreditation manager, Sergeant Melissa Kelly. So to let you know, this is our accreditation manager. She pushed everything we did. We couldn't have got here without you. So I'm gonna read this. In appreciation of your dedication, leadership, and countless hours of hard work in helping the Anderson Police Department achieve South Carolina law enforcement accreditation, your commitment to teamwork, integrity, professionalism, and excellence, along with your attention to detail, played a key role in reaching this important milestone. Your efforts have made a lasting impact on our department. with sincere appreciation for your outstanding contribution, lasting legacy, and dedicated service to our agency and the community that you are always serving. Lastly, I would like to thank our city council, our city administration, the staff, our command staff, all our command staff, the captains and lieutenants. the citizens for their continued competence and support. Their investment in our department allows us to pursue excellence and better serve our community. Finally, thank you again to the members of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Council, our assessors, and everyone that was involved in this program. Your guidance and commitment have strengthened law enforcement agencies across our state. And we are grateful for the time and expertise you have invested in our department. While we are proud to celebrate this achievement today, we also recognize that accreditation is not an end-all. It's a promise to our community that we will uphold these standards and seek opportunities to improve and provide professional, ethical, and compassionate service every day. Thank you.

Thank you, Chief Stewart. I think I speak for all of us that we're proud of you and the organization and the teamwork that is apparent of getting this type of accreditation throughout our state, being the 25th law enforcement division here in the state. Thank you. Our next item is the election of our mayor pro tem, Mr. McEwen.

Thank you. On this item, the Anderson City Code specifies that the mayor pro tem shall be elected from the council membership and shall serve a term of one year. The mayor pro tem serves in the absence of the mayor and as a representative of the city and council at events, functions, speaking engagements, and other such duties and responsibilities otherwise attached to the office of the mayor. Based upon session 2-220, the next council member in rotation is Mr. Greg Steele, who is willing to serve as mayor pro tem. Mayor, I turn it back to you for council consideration.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Steele, for considering that. I entertain a motion.

Well, Mayor, I guess I think Jeff and I are the most recent Mayor Pro Tems, and Marshall hasn't been here quite long enough to hit the two years, so I guess I'll nominate Greg for Mayor Pro Tems. No, all jokes aside, I consider it an honor. Greg's a great council member. I know he'll do a great job representing us, so I'll make that motion to approve Greg.

I have a first by Mr. Newton. Second. Second by Mr. Pickens. Any further discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Thank you. We have a new mayor pro tem. And I want to say thank you to Jeff Roberts for his turn. I appreciate always Jeff's ability to step in when I couldn't do anything. And we appreciate it.

It was a privilege and an honor. Thank you.

Thank you. The minutes of our June 22nd meeting were distributed. Are there any corrections or additions to those minutes? Make a motion we approve those minutes. First by Mr. Steele. Second. Second by Mr. Jeff Roberts. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Those minutes of June 22nd pass unanimously. Well, one item of business, and that item is to request second reading of Ordinance 26-13, authorizing the execution of an easement to Duke Energy, Carolina's LLC, for the installation and maintenance of electrical and communication facilities. Mr. McEwen. Thank you.

This request is before you on second reading with an easement with Duke Energy's Care Lines LLC. This is for new electrical lines that will run underground from the existing transformer in the northwest corner of the Church Street parking lot. It'll run behind the buildings and to the building that's currently under construction that we've nicknamed the Big John's Project. And so this is part of that electrical service that's needed as well. The easement is non-exclusive and will not interfere with the use of property by the city. The administration recommends this on second reading.

Thank you, sir. We talked about it at our June 22nd meeting. Any other questions, comments?

Mayor, I move we authorize the execution of the seismic to depower.

First by Mr. Jeff Roberts. Second. Second by the Mayor Pro Tem. Any further discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? That passes unanimously. We have six items of new business, and the first item is request consideration of a referral to the Planning Commission, a petition to annex and zone to a PDD, which is a planned development district, approximately 9.36 acres located at 305 Edgewood Drive. Mr. McEwen?

this item is before you as referral requests to the planning commission for their august the fourth scheduled meeting the item will then come back for first reading on august the 10th the planning development director maurice mckenzie will present the overview of this item mr mckenzie okay thank you the applicant is requesting to annex this property into the city it's 9.36

and the proposal is to construct a single family residential subdivision that consists of 15 lots. The proposal is for the homes to be custom built and with the proposed zoning of PDD, Plan Development District, That requires a document that outlines the development details for the property. The final details of that document are being worked out now and will be presented to the Planning Commission and then ultimately back to you after the Planning Commission considers it. The subdivision, the proposal is to have 15 lots again. Most of them are over 15,000 square feet in size. There's a few that are less than 15,000 square feet, but none are below 10,000 square feet. The development pattern along Edgebrook Drive varies. You have a subdivision that has lots averaging 8,000 square feet or less. You have some town homes. You also have some larger lots along Edgebrook. So you have a mixed development pattern through that stretch. And since this item was submitted prior to the adoption of our new unified development ordinance that's coming to you in August, it will be coming in under our old guidelines but since it is so close to the adoption of our new regulations it wouldn't be prudent to if this development didn't closely match what we have proposed for you with our new regulations so we did spot check this proposal alongside our new regulations and it closely matches what would be required if it came to you September or October once these guidelines are adopted. So again this is coming to you as a referral to the Planning Commission. As the City Manager mentioned this will go to them at their August 4th meeting and then we'll come back to you after that.

Thank you. So that meeting is August 4th. Thank you. Yes. I was going to ask that.

Any questions up here? Mayor I'll make the motion to refer it to the Planning Commission.

First by Mr. Newton. Second. Second by Mr. Pickens. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Passes unanimously. Thank you. Our second item is request consideration of referral to the Planning Commission for the City of Anderson's new Unified Development Ordinance.

This item is also a referral request to the Planning Commission for the August 4th meeting. This is a unified development ordinance that we've been working on for many years, coming on the back of the comprehensive plan adoption. This will come back for council for first reading on August 10th for adoption consideration. And Mr. McKenzie will go over this item.

Thank you. I mentioned the Unified Development Ordinance previously, or the UDO, and that's what this request is for. But as Mr. McEwen mentioned, over the past few years, we have been working on regulations to replace our existing zoning ordinance. With the adoption of our comprehensive plan last April, we've been moving fast with our consultants Halsey and Levine to draft these guidelines and the UDO combines our zoning ordinance, our subdivision regulations, various land development guidelines into one streamlined document. So that's what we've been working on. And it does, the intent is for it to closely match the goals of the comprehensive plan. So they work together as we look at regulating land use in the community. Now you are familiar with some of the elements of the proposed UDO three years ago. It's been almost three years now that you adopted new landscaping, tree preservation regulations, also a new sign code. Those were intended to be part of the new regulations, but you wanted to get a jump start on things, and from a community appearance standpoint, you adopted those two sections three years ago. So those will be incorporated into these guidelines. So this has already been in the works for several years, but it does go through a public process. And back in June, on June 4th, we did have a public open house to receive feedback from the community and the plan has also been available on our website along with the zoning map for public review and comments and Prior to adoption by the city council, when it comes back to you in August, we are required to have a public hearing that will be held by the planning commission. So tonight we're requesting that this is referred to the planning commission so they can conduct the public hearing on August 4th. And then it will come back to you after their recommendation.

Good. I know we've, as you mentioned, we've been working on this for several years and we're all familiar with it, but you know, um, I would encourage everybody in the council to, and I think Jeff has mentioned a couple times, to look at that UDO and make any recommendations that you think need to be made. But having said that, I'll open it up for discussion. Mr. Roberts?

Mr. McKenzie, what level of public input have you seen so far?

Not as much that we had with the comprehensive plan, but that's typical because the comprehensive plan is kind of the vision for the city's future. The UDO are the tools, the regulatory tools that apply to those future goals. So a lot of times that's common, but we have put it out there for public comment and we have received some good input, but it's not to the extent of the comprehensive plan.

Well, I won't lie, it's a tough read. Oh, yeah, it's not. But also, if, and I have a number of things, and I'll talk to you in your office at some point, but I can see several things that I'm going to bring forward as amendments or changes to it. So I encourage all of y'all to do it.

the same if you see something yeah yeah i'm glad you mentioned yeah i'm glad you mentioned that and you know we can make amendments early on or typically what happens when you adopt a set of guidelines this extensive after a while you'll find things that hey they may not work exactly like you want them to work so that's the beauty of it they can be amended at any time good any other questions

I just had a brief comment. I attended the work session that we had. I know there was a public comment session after that. I think this is a great step forward for a city like the comprehensive plan was. One of the things that you hear a lot and that you see a lot is about the massive growth our area is experiencing and I think as a city we have to be mindful about that growth and do it in a sustainable responsible way and I think our comprehensive plan was a great step in helping guide us in the right direction to make sure our city grows and continues to grow but does so in a way that maintains our unique character in anderson and i think this uniform this udo is going to be another thing that we have another tool in our tool kit to make sure that we have a city that as we continue to grow as areas continue to redevelop or new areas come into the city that we're going to be a city that that we can continue to be proud of so with that i'd make a motion we refer this to planning commission

Go first by Mr. Steele. Second. Second by Mr. Newton. Any further comments? I agree. I mean, I think comprehensive plan, UDO, they go hand in hand, and it should be easier for the community and for developers to make decisions about coming to Hampton and growing responsibly. I think we do have to be very cognizant of urban sprawl, and urban sprawl, you know, it can happen with or without municipal oversight, but these rules will help, the UDO will help prevent confusion and give clarity to everyone involved. So all those in favor sign. Aye. Opposed? It goes to the Planning Commission. Thank you. A third item is to request consideration of a resolution approving a mutual aid agreement between the City of Anderson Police Department and the City of Malden Police Department. Ms. McEwen.

The city of Anderson maintains many mutual aid agreements in public safety across our region to allow for sharing of resources when needed, particularly for special events, storm response and recovery, as we saw during Hurricane Helene and as we've deployed resources to the coast as well, along with other situations that may arise. This request would add the city of Malden as an official mutual aid partner. Chief Jim Stewart will go over the overview. Mr. Stewart.

Yes, this was a request from the city of Malden. As you're aware, they've just built a new soccer stadium over there, and they reached out to us. They are short of manpower at times, just like all agencies are kind of at times, and they requested assistance to help for traffic direction is mainly what we would be doing, but we would assist them in any law enforcement duty while we're there on their location.

Thank you to any questions. I imagine the new soccer stadium has put a strain with the World Cup and everything, so great.

So our officers would work that and be paid by the city of? Yes, sir. If we would just invoice them, kind of like what we do at Clemson University.

Clemson University, thank you. Any other questions, comments?

I'll make the motion to approve the resolution.

First by Mr. Newt. Second. Second by Mr. Jeff Roberts. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Let us pass unanimously. A fourth item is request consideration of purchase of vehicles for the police department. Mr. McEwen.

Yeah, we'll keep Chief Stewart up here, but this item is a planned capital equipment purchase for the police department vehicles in our 26-27 fiscal year budget, which is rolled into July the 1st. It comes out of our capital replacement fund. It's a request for five vehicles. Mr. Stewart.

This was our usual request for vehicles. This year I did research South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, all for state contracts. This is the first time that we've purchased vehicles on a Tennessee state contract, but this particular dealership Blue Sky Automotive in Greenville, Tennessee had 2026 Durango still on the lot, so we got that at a better price. They will be coming equipped with Hemi engines. Those engines have been more reliable for us, as opposed to the V6 engines, high output that we had been purchasing. Comparing this with the Ford PIU, the police interceptor, this is very much cost-saving, the Durango is, over the Ford PIU. And the Chevy Tahoe is an extreme over both of these. So I would recommend these vehicles, and they're holding these vehicles for us right now kindly.

Thank you. Any questions?

You mentioned that these are the most cost-effective, but we are not sacrificing performance, correct?

No, sir. These are full police-equipped vehicles. They are not standard vehicles available to the public.

Any other?

And I will add that we try to get this request in. It's the first meeting here in July because everybody else is doing the exact same thing. And so that's why Chief Stewart reached out and asked them to hold inventory because he goes very quick, especially with states buying thousands of these. Sure.

Thank you. Greenville, Tennessee. Greenville spelled wrong, Chief. Tuscan University has an E, Greenville.

I think every state in the union has a Greenville. Has a Greenville, yes.

All right.

I'll make a motion to approve.

First by Mr. Newton, second by... Mr. Steele, any further discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Passes and ayes. Thank you, Chief. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council. A fifth item is to request consideration of a contract for the Carolina Rim Park parking debt repair. Mr. McEwen?

This item is also a planned capital project in this year's budget to repair structural components of the Carolina Rim parking debt over the viaduct. You've seen where we've blocked sections off there for structural reasons and while ongoing assessments have been taking place, we've partnered with Davidson Floyd, who's here tonight, Senior Vice President Brent Robertson, raise your hand, and also structural engineer Caleb Pittman is here.

Todd's here.

Okay. Well, I had Kelvin on notes, but I'm glad you're here, Todd. I appreciate that. And Adam Cromer is helping us with this project. Mr. Cromer, if you would go over the nature of that, and then we can turn it over to Davison Floyd for kind of a walkthrough of it.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. The city owns and maintains several structures spanning the Pickens Railroad downtown, including the Main Street Bridge, a pedestrian bridge, and the parking deck behind Carolina Rent Park. The item on the agenda tonight involves repairs to the parking deck, which was constructed in the late 50s, early 60s. During a recent inspection, city staff identified an area of structural concern that warranted further evaluation and required the closure of a portion of the parking deck to both pedestrian and vehicular traffic. The city retained Davidson-Floyd to complete a structural assessment, develop construction plans, and prepare bid documents. A geotechnical investigation was also completed to support the design. Based on their evaluation, the recommended repair approach is similar to repairs that were completed on an adjacent portion of the parking deck back in 2004. This project was publicly bid, and a mandatory pre-bid meeting was held on May 12th with 15 firms in attendance. During that site visit, additional deterioration was identified on three support columns. Water intrusion had caused that concrete to break away, exposing deterioration that was not visible during the previous structural assessment. Rather than bringing the contractor back, Under a separate project, staff recommends completing those repairs while the contractors are immobilized on the site. Bids were opened on June 1st, and two qualified contractors submitted proposals. Staff recommends awarding the construction contract to Strickland Waterproofing Company in the amount of $989,000, along with authorization for up to an additional $72,000 to repair three additional support columns.

Thank you, Mr. Cromer. Maybe before we do questions, maybe we'll roll into the presentation by Davidson Floyd.

That would be great. Thank you. Thank you again. Let me introduce myself again. My name is Brent Robertson. I'm the Senior Vice President of Davidson Floyd. And I've also served as a principal point of contact for the City of Anderson for our engineering services for several years now. So with me tonight is Todd Warren. Todd Warren is our Vice President for Structural Engineering Organization. And then besides Todd is Rob Stevenson. Rob is our lead bridge engineer. So these gentlemen can speak more to the technical side of what we have done. We don't want to get too deep tonight into the technical details of our evaluation and design that we came up with. We'd be glad to get into that if you have any specific questions that you want to get a better understanding of what we've done. uh so as adam mentioned though so we were engaged uh back in 2024 to do an evaluation of all instructions the main street bridge the pedestrian bridge and the parking lot deck So we did that study back at the end of 2024 and came up with some recommendations of looking at everything. And then as Adam said, this became an obvious and apparent with the failure on the parking lot deck that it needed some immediate attention. Most of the stuff we identified in the report was things that we need to be aware of and need to be addressed eventually, but not was an imminent need to do. So with that, Todd, I'm going to ask you to come up and just maybe get into a little bit of a high-level technical of what we did on this project.

Yeah, so again, Todd Warner, David Sepulia, appreciate your time. You've heard a lot about it, but really after our report in 24, I think it was about a year before that, something was noticed on top and area of concern, I'll just say. So around October 25, we came out, looked at the top side of the deck, parking structure, So we inspected what we could see at the time, realized we had an issue. I think that was when we closed off the top of the deck. We came back a couple days later. I don't know if you've ever been under there. I don't recommend going under there, but there's some pretty steep slopes. It's really hard to get to to even inspect. So we came back a couple days later, proper equipment, inspected up close the bearing areas of these concrete beams. There's just heavy deterioration that was not noticed prior. So really what we're doing is trying to address that deterioration to create a safe usable structure with this project. A little more detail on the project, we're really just continuing the same repair that was done prior in the 2000s. We're going to install micropiles with a beam over it to basically support that end of the concrete beam. And then we have some additional work for the expansion joint that's in that area. The expansion joint that's there now has deteriorated in areas It's letting a lot of water get under that structure, which is causing exacerbating problems, if you will. So we're going to replace that expansion joint and then the repairs that were mentioned to the columns. Those weren't immediate needs at the time when we were first doing the project, but when we saw the deterioration had already gotten worse for some of those column beam interactions, I was only recommended to do a fiber wrap to go ahead and repair that and get it put up to make it a safe, usable structure for the city of Anderson. Again, that's a quick overview. Well, good. Thanks.

Maybe I'll open it up first. What we're proposing to do, what would be the life expectancy of all of that?

Well, the work that's being done, just like the work that was done in the early 2000s, that'll last you forever. I mean, we're basically shoring up the end of that structure so that, you know, the bearing issue will no longer be a problem. So the work that's going in will last 7,500 years, I mean, even more, depending. I mean, there are other issues that will need to be addressed, I guess, but as far as the work that's being done, you shouldn't have to worry about that portion of the project.

Good. Mr. Roberts, Jeff, wouldn't you think there would be an ongoing maintenance of the waterproofing on top, maybe before 75 or 100 years?

Yeah, I mean, I believe in our report, Rob, we identified, you know, waterproofing the whole top of that deck would be something to consider. But there are obviously bigger things to address before that. But waterproofing that over time would be a recommendation.

But that's not in this scope of work?

It is not in this scope of work.

And to my recollection, I don't believe there's a posted weight limit. in that parking area. That is correct. And don't you think that might be a good thing to do?

Yeah, we have recommended maybe use of headache bars to even just control access.

I mean, I could envision a loaded concrete truck pulling up in there and not knowing.

Or even on the pedestrian bridge. I mean, we had to cut that out. I can remember that deliveries were being made on that pedestrian bridge.

Yeah, Mr. Roberts, what we plan on doing after is putting the bars over and just making it for, you know, just normal vehicle use only. Yes, because you do get some boss trucks that'll sneak in there, that kind of thing. We even had a crane sitting on it for a while. I'm sure that did not help. That was a while back when they were doing some work in the area. But now we just stop all that so it's for passenger vehicles and it'd be correctly loaded right in for that.

Don't you think the city needs to put in our maintenance schedule, some waterproofing?

Yeah, we'll do that. So the goal first here, and we have Margo and I, the finance team, has developed a contingency budget for this, not just this one item that's before you tonight. So what we want to do is get this team in here, hire them, with David's employee, address these immediate issues. We're also pretty aware and confident Brian and I talked about this, is that we'll probably discover some other things while we're in there. And then there's some, as you get farther down the viaduct, we want to see about possibly enclosing some rebars, some other things too to address. But first, we want to get this team on board, see how they do, and perform. They come with high regards and we will get this immediate issue addressed and then go from there. But I will add the part of the specifications that we have for repayment Main Street actually over the Main Street Bridge take up that section. There's a little median section there that takes up that section. and actually waterproofs that before the pavement, that's what new asphalt goes down. And so similar to what you would do to the parking deck structure as well.

Anything else? I know we've all probably got a few questions on when is it going to be open up time for anything. I know that's a loaded question because you don't know what you're getting into, but...

The contractor, I talked to him last week. He thinks two to four weeks he can mobilize. He has some purchases to make with material and has some shop drawings that need to be approved. Two to four weeks start date and then 70 working days to complete the work.

Good. Anything else, guys?

Mayor, I move we accept the low bid of $9.89 for Strickland Waterproofing.

Thank you. I have a first by Mr. Jeff Roberts. Second. Second by Mr. Kyle Newton. Any further discussion?

I just want to make a comment. I appreciate y'all's hard work on this. I know I've talked to several of the businesses in the area. I know it's been kind of a headache for them, but they understand that obviously we want something safe. So I appreciate y'all working so hard to get this moving and get that parking back up and running again.

Could I add that our agenda item included $72,000 for additional repairs for three columns?

I'm in my motion to include that.

To include that, Jeff, Kyle, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, thank you. Mr. Cromwell. Thank you guys. Appreciate it. Our last item of new business is request consideration of a contract for the repair replacement of two digestive valves at the Rocky River wastewater treatment plant. Mr. McEwen.

Yeah, this item is regarding infrastructure valve replacement of the Rock River wastewater treatment plant. There is a picture up in your book on page 29, and I'm pointing to Marshall because I promised him I'll take him out there, and I haven't done that yet. So on a very nice afternoon, we'll go enjoy the wastewater treatment plant together. In July, please. We'll wait until fall, maybe. You need to get the parting gifts. Yeah, but Utility Director Scott Banks will present the sideboards. Mr. Banks.

Thank you, Mr. McEwen. Good evening, Mayor and Council. As indicated, there are multiple valves that are involved with our digester complex. This project is for the repair of one valve and the replacement of the second valve. They're pretty deep. Unfortunately, they're like 20 to 25 foot deep, which is part of the reason of the cost being as it is. And we're also going to install structures that will allow us access to them where we don't have to dig them up next time we need to work on them or need something to do. We had five contractors who bid on it. Harper General Contractors Incorporated of Greenville, South Carolina was the apparent low bidder at $99,912.60. We proposed to fund it from the repair and replacement budget out of the sewer budget. With that, staff recommends approval of a contract with Harper General Contractors in the amount of $99,912.60 plus a 10% contingency of $9,991.26 for a total of $109,903.86. Thank you, Mr. Banks. Any questions, comments? I make a motion we approve this. I vote first on Mr. Steele. Second. Second on Mr. Peek.

And we just got approved on digester lid. That's two. Yes, sir. Our treatment plan should be up and running smoothly here. We're trying to keep them that way. I understand that. I appreciate your hard work on that.

I have a first and a second. All those in favor sign. Aye. Opposed? We'll pass it to you now. Thank you. Thank you. I would entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. First by Mr. Newton. Second. Second by Mr. Peek. All those in favor say aye. Aye.