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Council approves to put drainage project out for bid

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Following the advice of its engineers, the Mountain Brook City Council approved putting the Canterbury/Surrey drainage project out for bid during the Feb. 13 meeting.

Dick Shea told the council it should not accept bids on the project. He was at the pre-council meeting representing his vacationing son Charles Shea, who lives on Canterbury, and neighboring Foots Parnell. 

“Essentially, you've got a whole lot of big pipes draining into a smaller pipe,” the elder Shea said. “This particular project is not going to do a bit of good, at all. 

“You've got two 36-inch pipes draining into a 42-inch pipe,” he continued. “It won't work. You just compound the situation by tearing the street up. People think something good is gonna happen. It's not gonna happen.” 

Council President Virginia Smith acknowledged having received advice on the matter. 

“Dick, I respect your opinion,” she said. “But we've had our experts study it a lot.”   

“They're not experts,” Shea interrupted. “They're engineers.”  

“All right,” she continued. “We've had our engineers study it (and) I'm comfortable moving forward with (this) tonight.” 

Billy Pritchard said Shea is correct in his assessment that the matter is extremely complicated in a lot of ways.  

“It's been studied, looked at exhaustively,” Pritchard said. “This is the best ... This is part of the solution. It's not the absolute solution to the problem. This is what's been recommended to us. It's the best that can be done given the fact that there's a lot of other component parts in the whole system, all the way down there. We're at a point where we've all been trying to help the best (that) we thought we could. I think this is one of those things that has been presented to us for us to bid out. I'd hate for us to pass up the opportunity to get something done to help mitigate the problem. Is it going to solve the problem? Of course not.” 

The council opted not to put the Cherry/Lorena/Euclid projects out for bid. 

During the meeting, Jim Hicks made a 20-minute presentation to the panel concerning a planned project on fields at Mountain Brook Junior High School. John Somerville, the attorney for Hicks and neighbor Michael Kelley, said the city is trying to go against the terms of an agreement made in 1995-96 regarding a buffer area. 

Somerville added that lights at the field are a concern, as is drainage from the field area. 

“It's already caused flooding,” the attorney said, “and we want to ensure that their houses are not flooded further in the future.” 

Smith, the council president, said the city will seek advice whether what was stated in the presentation is factual. Hicks said during his presentation that the city is rushing into the project, but Smith disagreed. 

“I don't think it has been rushed though,” she said. “I know that one goal is to try to get it done so that it can be used by the school system.” 

In other matters: 

Four persons were appointed to the First Responders Foundation. David Faulkner and Steven Hydinger were appointed by the council; Tanya Cooper and Christopher Mouron were appointed by the mayor. 

“Two will be for three years and two will be for two years,” Vince Schilleci told the council. “We're going to stagger that term just so we don't have a mass exodus in any given year.” 

Faulkner and Cooper are appointed to a three-year term while Mouron and Hydinger are appointed for two years. 

The council approved the paving list for fiscal 203. Streets to be paved are: 

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