13 City Council (08/11/03) - Laserfiche WebLink

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Regular City Council Meeting August 11,2003 Page 14 The City Engineer explained that in an emergency, like the water line break, we just start calling people on the list and you take the first person who is home. In this instance we were calling at 9:00 at night and we were asking them to work all night. Mr. Bell asked why would a city crew not go first in any emergency situation. Mr. Napier said the city crews are always there first. He said they are there to see if they have the means to fix the problem. The City Manager said some of these emergency situations that occur, particularly at the Water Treatment Plant, require equipment that we do not have and the expertise that they do not have, but they are still there. City Attorney Schenk stated that what they are saying is process wise, the City Engineer, Public Director, or the Director of Utilities would make a judgment as to the kinds of work that they think needs to be done and that is whom they would start calling based on the pre-pricing for that information for that service that we had in advance. He asked is that kind of what you are saying? Mr. Bell said he understood that there are some contractors who do not have the type of equipment that is needed or the expertise, but at any given time the city should be maintaining a list of people that can perform various work. The city should be requesting those people to keep on file their current bonds and insurance, etc., and they can work for the city at any time. City Attorney Schenk said that in the instance of an emergency they work from a list of qualified contractors. They would call to get the first contractor with the best price that qualifies and who could be on the job and address the emergency. City Attorney Schenk asked what the Council considered an emergency. Mayor Fendley stated that the statutes say an emergency is a matter of life, health and safety. City Attorney Schenk said we can do that, but still, there could be an area of dispute and that is what brings to mind to see if you believe you have some sort of emergency, what sort of preapproval and verification are we looking for in that policy to be able to state ~that is certainly an emergency" and we need to go out and spend the money.