Starkville Police Department renovation contractor Weathers Construction Inc. will install a sump pump at no extra cost to the city as a way to address a water seepage issue that continues to plague the progress of the $5.4 million project downtown.
Aldermen unanimously voted Tuesday to put Weathers under a separate contract for the installation, which includes a 12-month warranty on all labor and material costs.
SPD’s original unveiling and formal dedication for the new headquarters was postponed last month after a subcontractor brought the issue of basement flooding to Ward 6 Alderman and Vice Mayor Roy A. Perkins’ attention.
Although the area affected by flooding is a crawl space for mechanical infrastructure and is not meant to house any city staff members, Perkins called for a delay until all water seepage and flooding issues were completely eradicated and said taxpayers would get the “most of the money” funding the project.
The original project contract, Perkins said, included the entire demolition and renovation of the old city hall on East Lampkin Street, and the basement space affected would not be excluded.
“This is not easy money, and the governing body is going to make sure that this money is spent appropriately and that the contractor gets it right prior to accepting the building,” Perkins said. “We just need some reassurance.”
Since the basement is not considered an occupied space, contractor Gary Weathers said, there were no functions to address an issue of this matter in the original drawings by project architect Gary Shafer.
The solution the contractor and architects Sally Zahner and Shafer presented Tuesday is to install the pump underneath the basement slab, where the water was originally observed seeping through a crack found in the foundation.
The pump, Zahner said, will be triggered by any water entering the area and will only take a few seconds to pump it out, therefore keeping the basement floor entirely dry.
“Starkville City Hall and the county building (have) an active sump pump at the bottom of the elevator shaft,” Zahner said. “So, we know this is a common way to eliminate water issues in our practice.”
Although the pump will provide further help in eliminating the water issues, Weathers said it is not a “cure-all,” and the building, which has seen similar issues before, could still see water issues in the future due to major rainfall and other unforeseen circumstances.
Starkville Police Chief Frank Nichols said that although he does not have much knowledge of the situation, after speaking with the contractor and Shafer’s staff, he believes the pump will be a proper solution to the current water seepage issues.
“We don’t want water down there, of course,” Nichols said. “But being that we aren’t going to utilize the space down there, I think this will work.”
Ultimately, the highest priority is assuring taxpayers the project is done right, Perkins said.
“The city of Starkville is certainly not going to pay $5.4 million for water on the floor,” Perkins said. “We do appreciate the contractor and want to thank them for what they do, but we will not approve anything until it is done right.”
Weathers said there were no further issues with the construction of the building when questioned by Vice Mayor Perkins.
A date has not yet been set for the unveiling of the new police headquarters.
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