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2A • THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2004
Bay council faces pot* drainage woes, histor
BY MARY G. SEILEY Staff Writer
Bay St. Louis leaders appear to be bracing for rough legal and political rides in the weeks ahead.
Two big-ticket items on City Council's agenda include multiple sinkholes in a $3.5 million drainage upgrade program, and the final enactment of a historic preservation ordinance.
Both matters have council members at odds, and represent political hot potatoes.
Council went into executive session Tuesday night, at the advice of city attorney John Scafide, to discuss "possible litigation" over warranties covering the drainage program. In the meanwhile, council agreed to call a 5:05 p.m workshop Monday with the engineer for the project at issue, James J. Chiniche.
"What's he going to tell us?" asked Ward 1 council member Doug Seal, repeatedly. Seal contends the city should have an independent assessment of problems with the drainage project, and skip the step of after-the-fact dialog . with the engineer.
Ward 2 council member Jim Thriffiley, however, wants the engineer and
public works’ officials on hand to discuss the several drainage system breaks that have occurred in recent months.
Officials say five or six sinkholes have appeared in town, in spots where connections of drainage pipes have failed. The failures were among more than 500 joints that were sealed with grout - a process which was used under a special warranty to the city.
While only a handful of failures have occurred, officials are worried that the problem is widespread and will manifest itself fully after the warranty expires this fall.	Colom
Construction Co., which built the system, offered to repair the problems immediately, said Public Works director Ron Vanney.
But, Vanney said, city officials backed off from that offer out of concerns over the looming warranty issue. Vanney told council that his office is compiling the paperwork trail surrounding the situation.
Who's to blame for the failures, and who's to pay for repairs, is very much at issue.
Council president Bill Taylor said Tuesday that he is reluctant for council to
deal with those matters directly, suggesting it's an administrative issue to resolve.
"Well, I think if we spend the money, we need to find out what's going on," responded Ward 2 council member Jim Thriffiley.
Seal, who wants an independent assessment of the problem, balked at the notion of meeting with Chiniche at this point. He said council should tackle the problem.	"It's	our
responsibility. We spent $3.5 million on something that's broke ... We have a failure here now." Seal warned that the city is "dragging" its feet by discussing the issue with the engineer who designed the system.
"We're going to drag this out ... and keep dragging and dragging." The system, he said, "it's failing. And we don't know why: the pipe, the grout, the ground?" Seal fears that warranties covering the failures will lapse while the discussion proceeds, leaving the city alone to pay for costly repairs.
Council financed a city-wide drainage system upgrade with a $5.5 million general obligation bond issue several years ago. The portion that's having trou-