City Administrators Report
February 4th, 2019
Sewer Main Camera
For the past 3 years or so, the wastewater department has been looking into purchasing a
camera for the sewer main collection system. They have contacted various companies selling
the camera systems and software and set up demonstration on our system. The cost has always
been a major issue with purchasing a system as the budget for the wastewater has not been
showing any improvement.
To complicate matters the problematic areas the crews need to “jet” (clean out) increasing as
t ime goes by. A section of main that runs from 10th street to the Highway on Mineral Ave,
across from Pizza Hut parking lot, has been getting progressively worse over time.
From the video that was taken of this section, it appears the service line we believe is
protruding about 4 inch into the main. The main is 8 inches in diameters so about half of the
main is restricted and can cause serious back ups if material is caught by this service main.
This is just one of many mains in the city’s collection system with problems. A lot are from tree
roots, others are old clay tile pipes that are deteriorating causing them to break apart. The
camera would help use locate and isolate areas we then could determine exactly where to dig.
The old jet truck pump was sent to Spokane Pump for a rebuild which should increase the
pressure so the operators can use different high-pressure attachments to help remove roots
and cut through services that are protruding into the line like the one at Pizza Hut. This will save
having to dug up the street in some appl ications.
I have printed up the report to show you how the camera can benefit the City.
Departments
January turned out to be the month with the most snow so far this winter. The crews did a
great job plowing and were able to keep up with getting the slush off the streets when the
t emperatures warmed up. Most of the streets have become bare and dry. Crews moved right to
getting all the berms picked up from the middle of the streets in preparation for any more snow
t hat needed to be plowed. I have received a couple of calls regarding the nice job the crews
have been doing plowing this year. I also received a couple calls on issues from plows as well,
but we are taking care of them.
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Both the water treatment plant and the wastewater plant have been operating well with no
major issues to report. I ordered security cameras for both the plants with the wastewater
cameras also covering the street shop. We are having a few issues with the base station for the
cameras at the water treatment plant interfering with the internet and the telemetry. The
crews are working to correct the problem.
Jim Hammons