City council approves boring request; awards lawn maintenance contract

During Tuesday’s meeting of the Picayune City Council, Jonathan Hickman of Dungan Engineering and the City’s Engineer office made a request to the council to approve a request to enter into an agreement with MDOT to speed up the process of relocating utilities in relation to the widening of Highway 11.

Hickman said the request was for MDOT to pay for a cost increase for the relocation by boring versus the original plan of mass removal of existing dirt, concrete, or asphalt for relocation. This approach, according to Hickman, will be of lesser impact to the business and it will also speed up the project. Hickman said this change will not be any additional cost.

After the council members, Hickman, and Public Works Director Eric Morris examined the language of the proposal from MDOT, there were concerns if the proposed percentages proposed by MDOT were accurate and will cover the additional fees. The original agreement called for a cost to the city of $371,800 to relocate the water lines (62% of total cost) and $68,250 for the relocation of the gas lines (91% of the total cost).

The council voted to approve the agreement provided that the amounts will not result in any additional costs to the city from the original estimate.

The city council awarded the contract for the lawn maintenance of the area referred to as the ‘horseshoe’ to Taylor Made Lawn Care, Inc. of Pass Christian. The contract will be to assist the city in specific areas such as specific parks and areas along Highway 43 North and Highway 43 South, and the area along Highway 11 in the downtown area.