During the January regular meeting of the Knox Board of Works, Director of Building, Planning and Code Compliance Lonnie Boley informed the board about a matter that involved a Brightspeed boring gone wrong. Boley stated that he had received a call from a homeowner. The homeowner had hired Home Comfort because his septic sewer system hadn’t been working since October.
“When he got the picture of it being bored, you could see obvious damage,” Boley said. He provided those photos to Brightspeed. “So, right away, Wastewater come out to see what the issue was. And it was bored right through. Further looking at it, it was in City right of way that was not approved by the original plan for the fiber build for Brightspeed.”
An invoice was provided by Jason Clemons, Wastewater Department Superintendent, to provide to Brightspeed. Another invoice, from the homeowner, was also given to the company.
“I suggest that from my office that the permit violation be waived, or the $200, and the contractor registration, that contractor wasn’t registered with the city, waive that fine of $500 because they have several thousand in invoices,” said Boley.
Mayor Estok asked Boley about the actual totals for the invoices. Boley replied that the invoice from the City was $5,226. Of that amount, $2,500 was to have a manhole relined. The cost of the vac truck was $2,000. The cost of materials was $86. The equipment, the camera, was $300. The cost for the Wastewater crew to repair the damage was $340.
The invoice that the homeowner paid was $1,060.
Mayor Estok asked why the homeowner had to pay that amount when Wastewater fixed the damage. Clemons replied that the homeowner paid for the contractor to come out since his sewer was backed up. However, when the department went out, they found it wasn’t a clogged line.
“We could see that it was bored right through plus when we got down and done the initial repair, our manhole was hit. You can see that the bore machine went right through our manhole, went around the manhole and hit their line,” said Clemons.
“And on top of that, the depth of that was approximately 3’6” to 3’7” when it was supposed to be, according to the original fiber build, a minimum of four feet. The locate was called in for the depth of six foot. So, another shallow one,” Boley added.
“Plus, they put that right on top of our sewer line,” Clemons said.
A representative for Brightspeed was present at the meeting and said that he would be taking all of this information back to the company’s government affairs personnel. He told the board that he would recommend to his company that restitution for the invoices be made.
The board decided to wait to see if Brightspeed will pay the invoice amounts before taking any further action.
In other Board of Work’s news, the board opened three bids for the 2024 CCMG-2. The first was from Milestone in the amount of $492,895.56. The second bid was from E&B Paving in the amount of $456,074.06. The third bid was from Reith Riley in the amount of $396,579. The board awarded the bid to the lowest bidder, Reith Riley, pending review from Street Department Superintendent Jeff Borg.
