By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
This is the third consecutive year the city of Hays has hired professional rehabilitation of manholes and the first year the manholes are all located in fields.
The 2020 plan includes 46 manholes generally located east of the Public Works facility (located at 1002 Vine), W. 27th Street near Highway 183 Bypass and the waterway draw near 19th and Harvest in east Hays.
"These manholes are on larger [sewage] collection lines, about 20 feet deep," explained Jeff Crispin, Water Resources director. "The average manhole in town is about 10 feet deep."
Some of the manholes are under soil.
"The city does not have the equipment to fix deep failures," he said. "We have to hire a contactor, so it's important to keep everything maintained really well."
The low bid was submitted by Mayer Specialty Services of Wichita. City commissioners awarded the bid in an amount not to exceed $100,000. Mayer Specialty Services also completed the 2019 project in Hays.
The sewer system will remain in service during the rehabilitation work.
There are about 2,400 manholes in Hays. The city plans to rehab about 50 manholes every year in a 50-year schedule.
This project includes the lining of manholes with a cement-based mix with alkaline-resistant fiberglass reinforcement called MS-2A or a polyurethane product used in higher corrosion environments. The decision on which materials to be used is made at the time the work is to be completed by performing a visual inspection as well as testing pH levels in the manhole.
"I would rather be on a maintenance schedule every year, rather than have to go in and replace manholes because of failure," Crispin said.
"When we started this three years ago, we wanted to make sure we were hitting the worst-case manholes."
The cost of rehabilitation for each manhole is typically between $1,500 and $3,000, according to Crispin. Full manhole replacement is much more costly at around $15,000, with a potential to be much higher depending on depth.
Other action at the Nov. 12 city commission meeting included an agreement with Blue Cross Blue Shield to provide city employees in 2021 with a triple-option partially self-funded health insurance plan with the city, not to exceed $1.99 million. It will be funded out of the Employee Benefit Levy Fund.
The plan options decided on by the Employee Wage and Benefit Committee lowered the renewal rate increase from 10% to 7.75%.