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4.7. SR 06-04-2001 Howard R. Green Company May 30, 2001 File: 230000M-0325 Item ~ 4.7. Honorable Mayor and City Council City of Elk River 13065 Orono Parkway P.O. Box 490 Elk River, MN 55330-0490 RE: DIANE MCGARTHWAITE SEWER ISSUE Dear Council Members: As requested by the City Council, staff has further investigated the McGarthwaite sewer issue and discussed options for solving the problem. As background, the following is a chronological order based on City files and facts provided by Ms. McGarthwaite. · Sewer is installed in the summer of 1992. Air test is performed on the sewer June of 1992. · McGarthwaite home hooked up to sewer in April 1994. · Sewer functions normally until Christmas Eve Day 1996 when first backup is experienced. · Minnegasco televises sewer line and indicates to Ms. McGarthwaite there is structural damage. · Big Jon's Construction excavates sewer service but is unable to find structural damage. Installs new cleanout. Charges for this work $678.25. · Minnegasco televises line again and makes recording showing structural damage that Big Jon's Construction was unable to find. Structural damage appears to be in the right-of-way very near or just under the street. Attached to this letter is a copy of correspondence wdtten to Mayor Klinzing by Ms. McGarthwaite on March 4, 2000. Also attached is a typed summary provided by Ms. McGarthwaite at the May 21, 2001, City Council meeting. When staff discussed the options available to solve this sewer problem, the dilemma we face is the City Ordinance is very clear that the sewer and water services are owned by the property. The City and Municipal Utilities take responsibility for the main lines in the street but the services are considered to be the property owner's for purposes of maintenance and operation. The reverse dilemma is that the video tape prepared by Minnegasco clearly shows structural damage that is very likely not a result of any actions by the home owner. However, the fact that the line was installed and tested in 1992, hooked up to in Apdl 1994, and operated without problems for better than 2% years until December 1996 would indicate that the structural damage is not a result of any action by the City's contractor who installed the initial sewer lines and service stub to the McGarthwaite property. Finally, the McGarthwaite sewer line is approximately seven feet deep in the boulevard area. Any activity by small utility companies in this area would only be in the range of 3% feet deep. Again, it is highly unlikely that activities burying small utilities in the boulevard area would have caused the structural damage shown on the videotape. O:\PROJ~230000M\0325~Ltr 05-24-01 Council.doc 1326 Energy Park Drive · St. Paul, MN 55108 · 651/644-4389 fax 651/644-9446 toll free 888/368-4389 Honorable Mayor and City Council May 30, 2001 Page Two Given this set of circumstances, the staff feels that in order to not set a precedent for future issues, the best scenado for the City would be to help facilitate the repair and finance the repair with Ms. McGarthwaite agreeing to an assessment against her property at Iow interest to repay the City for the repair. This situation should be considered an emergency because Ms. McGarthwaite is living without sanitary facilities and ground water is getting into the sewer system. Therefore, the City could obtain a quote from a local contractor, present it to Ms. McGarthwaite, and ask her to sign a waiver allowing the work to be done and an assessment placed against her property. I will be in attendance at your June 4, 2001, City Council meeting to answer any questions and to seek further direction from the City Council. Sincerely, Howard R. Green Company TJM:tw Attachments O:~PROJ~230000M~032b-AI_tr 05-24-01 Council.doc Howard R. Green Company CONSULTING ENGINEERS Customer: Diane McGarthwaite Property: 18829 Albany St NW Elk River, MN (Westwood Addn, Block 9, Lot 9) The homeowner hooked up to city sewer in April 1994. The first hint of trouble began Christmas Eve day 1996 when the sewer backed up into the basement. Minneagasco was'called to fLX the problem as part of their "Service Protection" program. They wereunable to clear the line due to some obstruction or structural damage to the line coming from the street. They brought a TV camers.~the next day to show the homeowner that there actually was physical damage to the pipe near the property line'. The property owner was advised that a repair was necessary and to call the insta.lling contractor, Big Jon's Construction. Big Jon's.Construction excavated and could find nothing wrong with the line coming from the house to the property line. It's unknown how much of the line to the main was examined, but he indicated to the homeowner that Minnegasco must be wrong about the obstruction because he couldn't find anything wrong and waste was flowing again. He did install a third cleanout 19 feet back from the curb. At that point, the line is 7 feet below the surface. The homeowner believes structural --~ damage to the line may have occurred when the underground electrical was ~ installed because there is a transformer just a few feet from where the break ._~ appeared to be located. The homeowner tried to seek restitution from Minnegasco for Big Jon's excavating bill because they appeared to be mistaken about the structural damage to the line. Instead, on Feb 12, 1997, Minnegaseo brought TV camera and video taped the damage. It's very apparent there is physical damage consisting of cracks and a portion of the plastic pipe missing---you can see the rocks about ready to fall into the line and cause another blockage. This break appears to be on the city installed portion of the line about 6 to 7 feet in from the curb. As of April 29, 2001, the line is blocked again and Minnegasco refuses to intercede. Elk River Utilities indicates it's not their problem, and the Elk River Sewer Department indicates it's up to the homeowner to fix it even if it was originally installed by the City of Elk River. This seems unfair in light of the short time the line worked as intended. Elk River City Engineer was advised of the problem and the homeowner still waits for his decision more than two weeks later. Someone needs to "own up" to fixing this continuing problem. The homeowner paid over $12,000 for city sewer and has every fight to assume it was built to last more than 2.75 years. The homeowner does not have another $3,000 to fLX the sewer line. These costs may seem high to repair a sewer line, but according to Big Jori, the site needs to be dewatered, and there will probably need to be curb and street repairs if the break is located further out than where he excavated previously. Someone please take the responsibility to fix the problem for this homeo~vner.