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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The council voted on Tuesday night to award the 2024 Water & Sewer Main Replacement Project to Ghilotti Construction Co. Inc. Councilman Brandon Disney recused himself from the discussion and vote.
“This is a very large, exciting project for the utilities department,” Utilities Director Paul Harris told the council on Tuesday night.
He complimented the work of the city’s internal engineering staff, noting it has taken about a year to get to this point.
Harris’ written report to the council explained that the project consists of installing new main line and service connections for both water and sanitary sewer, replacing aging and undersized mains in several locations.
Harris said the pipeline replacements, identified as part of the 2021 rate study, are scheduled to start this month.
“The project is expected to improve the water and sewer system performance, reliability, and capacity for current and future needs,” Harris’ report explained.
The project scope includes Lakeshore and Lakeport boulevards, and Sayre, Jones, Tunis, 10th, Armstrong, Martin, K and Forbes streets.
City Attorney David Ruderman said that more than 15% of the properties in the city will benefit.
A key challenge for the city was the unexpected rise in cost for the project.
The city engineer’s estimate came in at $5.7 million, based on the design and construction costs, Harris said.
The city advertised the project over a seven-week bid period. Three bids were received and opened on May 2.
Ghilotti was the lowest bidder at $8,042,049, 40% higher than the city engineer’s estimate.
City Manager Kevin Ingram noted during the discussion that the May 2 bid opening was “not a very happy day.”
Harris’ report said the city’s bid analysis “revealed that the main factors for the higher bid were the increased material costs, labor shortages, and market conditions.”
Staff’s recommendation to the council to move the project forward was to use bond proceeds that were originally allocated for the new well at Scotts Creek/Green Ranch.
Harris said the total bond proceeds amounted to $5.9 million and were intended to cover both the sewer and water main project and the design and construction of the new well, which is in the preliminary design phase.
He said the new well project would be funded from the water expansion reserve fund, which has a balance “believed to cover the cost of the design and construction of the new well.” He said the city’s sewer operating and maintenance fund also has sufficient reserves to cover the sewer share of this project.
Ingram said staff had to do a lot of number crunching. “These are really big important key pieces to the utility aspect of running our system.”
There are a lot of changes in the building code that require the upgrades, however, sticker shock “was an understatement,” Ingram said.
He said staff decided the project was worthy of using funding reserves.
Mayor Michael Froio said such projects within the city need to get done, “and we need to get it done now” — before they cost $20 million.
Councilman Kenny Parlet moved to approve the contract award, with Councilwoman Stacey Mattina seconding and the council voting 4-0, with Disney not taking part.
“Kevin, that's a lot of money,” said Froio.
Parlet pointed out that they built the new Xabatin Park for less. That park was funded by a nearly $6 million state grant and some city reserves for cost overruns.
Construction of the water and sewer main project is estimated to start at the end of July and be completed by June 2025, staff reported.
Also during Tuesday’s two and a half hour meeting, the council unanimously approved the reorganization of the utilities department and held a budget workshop in preparation for finalizing the 2024-25 fiscal year budget.
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- Written by: LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said the crash victim was 76-year-old Linda Jean Smith.
The California Highway Patrol’s Clear Lake Area office said its officers responded to reports of a solo vehicle traffic collision involving a white 2003 Toyota Tacoma on northbound Highway 29 north of 11th Street in Lakeport at 4:15 p.m. Wednesday.
Smith was driving her Toyota in northbound No. 1 lane of Highway 29 at 65 miles per hour when the pickup suddenly veered in a northwesterly direction, the CHP said.
The CHP said the Toyota crossed the center median and Highway 29 southbound, then traveled through a barbed wire fence on the west side of the freeway, across Mountainview Road, over the descending embankment west of Mountainview Road and then hit a tree on the embankment before it stopped.
First responders took Smith to the hospital where the CHP said she was pronounced dead.
The CHP said they don’t believe alcohol or drugs were factors in the wreck.
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- Written by: LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS
UPDATE: The Clearlake Police Department reported Friday morning that he has been located.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Clearlake Police Department is attempting to locate a missing teenage boy.
Aiden Atkins, 16, was last seen on May 31 at the Clearlake Dollar Tree store.
He is a white male juvenile with blond shaved hair and blue eyes. He is 5 feet 4 inches tall and 130 pounds.
When Atkins was last seen, he was wearing black pants with no shirt.
If you have any information about his whereabouts please contact the Clearlake Police Department at 707-994-8251, Extension 1.
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- Written by: LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS
On Tuesday at about 1:17 p.m., a tree near Scotts Creek hit a power line that has enhanced powerline safety settings enabled on it, according to Pacific Gas and Electric.
PG&E reported that it recently activated the enhanced powerline safety settings, or EPSS, in high fire threat districts, including parts of Lake County.
EPSS are advanced safety settings and allow PG&E’s powerlines to automatically turn off power within one-tenth of a second.
The company said this power cutoff can happen when there’s a hazard, like a tree branch falling into a powerline, which can cause a fire.
The company started using EPSS settings in 2021 and said they greatly reduced the number of public safety power shut off that PG&E needed to execute.
PG&E found that, in 2022, there was a 68% reduction in ignitions on EPSS-enabled powerlines.
This week’s issue in Lake County caused the EPSS settings to be triggered on one of the distribution lines in the Lakeport area, with about 1,192 customers losing power.
PG&E said its workers were able to report to the scene quickly to start patrols of the line and found a tree on a line. Because the line was deenergized due to the EPSS settings, the tree coming in contact with the lines did not create an immediate safety risk.
Additionally, within an hour, 1,157 customers had their power restored, with the power going back on later for the remaining 35 customers, PG&E said.
When an EPSS setting is triggered, PG&E crews must patrol the entire circuit to ensure no damage or hazards are present. PG&E will use helicopters, when possible, to conduct aerial patrols. Extra crews will be brought in when ground patrols are needed so the patrol can be done safely and as quickly as possible to restore service to our customers.