By T. Scott Boatright
New Public Works Director Eric Caldwell was introduced Thursday evening as Grambling’s City Council meeting at City Hall.
The City Council voted Caldwell as the new Public Works Director during last month’s meeting, but he was not at that meeting, so Thursday was his first time appearing before the public in his new role.
“Mr. Caldwell comes highly recommended and is credentialed and certified in both water and sewers, so he’s a great addition to our team here at the city of Grambling,” Mayor Alvin Bradley said.
Caldwell said his early focus had been on improving the Public Works department through change.
“Most of you already know who I am, but I’m excited about the chance to try and lead the Public Works department in a new direction,” Caldwell said. “My plan and goal are for the Public Works department to be different, and what I mean by that is trying to be more accessible to the community and trying to meet the needs of the community.
“As a matter of fact, I got my feet wet the first few days that I started working when I worked with Ms. Barbara McIntyre to get her taken care of with a brown water problem she was having. My goal is for Public Works to be different. I do not expect it to be as exciting as it’s always been, because I’m expecting it to be better.”
The Council also approved the hiring of Michael Holland to Grambling’s Sanitation Department and fill in with the Public Works Department when needed upon Caldwell’s recommendation.
Public Works issues were big components of the meeting as Grambling’s City Council also approved a change order recommended by consulting city engineer Henry Shuler regarding the “Water Sector Program — Wastewater College System Renovation” project.
Shuler said the change order is made up of four items.
“The first line item is due to a failure on Webster (Street),” Shuler said. “We already knew about that but that is not a simple thing to fix. The next item is Stadium View, which needs a new wetwell. That particular wetwell was concrete, and the key word is ‘was.’ It is shot, so the entire wetwell is shot and has to be taken out and replaced.
“And the next item is the College Lift Station force main. That is actually to pay for work that’s already been done. The last line item is the Hills of Grambling Lift Station. That wet well is still salvageable but there’s groundwater just pouring into it. The line item to reline that wet well (with fiberglass) is significant and not easy because it is not like you can just cut the groundwater off to do the work.”
Shuler said all of that work amounts to around $160,000.
“But the good news is that we were significantly under budget from Day One,” Shuler said. “So, I’m not sitting up here crying about having to do it, because of that and we have to do these things and we’ve been blessed to be under budget without costing the city any additional dollars.”
Shuler also said that a water project to replace half or so of the city’s water meters and several dozen valves has finally gone to bid.
“One word of warning, once that project begins there will be a series of interruptions to the city’s water supply while those changes are being made,” Shuler said. “You don’t have many valves in your water system, so while this job will correct that, they’re going to have to shut the water systems down to be able to cut those new valves in.
“Afterward, they won’t have to do that anymore so that when there’s a leak, they’ll be able to make fixes a street at the time instead of a whole big part of the water supply.”
Grambling’s City Council also approved the hiring of a part-time Main Street Director as Amri Douglas has taken over that role.
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