City engineer: Millions in projects needed

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
During the Oct. 18 Newcastle City Council meeting, city engineer Mike Moore outlined millions of dollars worth of projects he would like the city to take on in the near future. The projects included addressing issues with streets, water and sewer lines and the sewer lagoon. 
The first project is the replacement of Sixth and Seventh avenues water and sewer lines, as well as replacing the roadways. 
“To do the street and repair, the water line is around $800,000 for the two streets,” Moore said. “Add in the sewer line, it will be around $1 million.” 
He noted that while the project is expensive, it is desperately needed. 
“That one (water line under Seventh Avenue) keeps failing — every year,” Moore said, adding that the line is over 60 years old and has surpassed its design life. 
While there are miles and miles of the same water line running throughout Newcastle, he said, Seventh Avenue is the first place the line has started giving out. 
Moore said that replacing both the water and sewer lines before the road work is done would greatly reduce the chance that the road would have to be torn up in the near future to repair any issues below the surface. 
Councilman Tyrel Owens, who used to work for the city, echoed the need for the city to address the issues on Seventh Avenue. He said that he had personally worked on four or five water breaks on that line. 
“Seventh needs help, I am pretty sure the residents are sick of being out of water,” Owens said. “I am not an advocate for doing a project on a street without repairing the water and sewer lines. You have to get them done right so you don’t have to worry about them. … Please, I implore all of you, let’s try to do our projects to the fullest extent.” 
In addition to street and line repairs, Moore said the city is facing potentially $2 million to $3 million in costs to remove sludge from cell B at the sewer lagoon. He noted that the cost may be less depending on multiple variables, including the amount of work the city wants completed.
“Doing investigation into cell B, I learned it was the original lagoon and the others were built around it. It has probably, most likely, never been cleaned out and the sludge is built up,” Moore said. 
He noted that there is temptation to leave the sludge there but that
this could affect the overall health of the lagoon. 
“It is good maintenance to get it out of there so it operates the way it is supposed to,” Moore added. 
With the extensive costs of the repairs, Moore said, funding is a concern that the city should begin considering. 
“The reality of the situation, with this level of infrastructure to repair, it is going to cost money, but it needs to be done,” he said, noting that there is temptation to use reserve funds to complete the projects. 
“There is a temptation to use money in reserves to fix this so we don’t have to borrow money. But, if we use the money in reserves, we will have millions (of dollars in infrastructure) that still need (to be) repaired,” Moore said. “The wise idea is to spread the money as far as we can and get grants and loans.” 
He added that the process associated with applying for state grants and loans can be long, so the city would need to start looking at it soon. Moore noted that user fees may need to be increased because those revenue sources will likely be considered when applying for loans. 
“Funding through loans is financed through user fees. User rates have to go up as you increase your loans,” Moore said.