What happens if a sewer main ruptures and the scope of the work is more than Lathrop’s Public Works can handle?

Moving forward, the city will now be able to call their on-call wet utility contractor to tackle the job in a timely fashion – preventing delays that could impact the quality of life for Lathrop residents.

Last week the Lathrop City Council approved a proposed contract with Sorraco Inc. for $200,000 for on-call construction services for wet utility and street repairs in the event that an emergency arises and it overwhelms the city’s public works department – supplementing the city’s existing in-house employees that manage the city’s streets and sidewalks, and water, sewer, and storm drain systems.

While the city’s process for awarding contracts requires them to accept the lowest possible bid from authorized contractors that are responsible and responsible for the work that is being sought, the exact work for the contract that was approved for Sorraco is not yet known – requiring the city to advertise for planned and emergency work at a not-to-exceed cost that is inclusive of a variety of different tasks and responsibilities.

The specific purchase orders for this particular contract will be invoiced using the bid sheet from the formal process as well as the contractors time and materials worksheet that will be submitted to the city after the project is completed.

Because Lathrop had only authorized $91,500 for this type of work in its current budget, the council’s approval also authorized a transfer of $33,500 from the gas tax fund, $62,000 from the water fund, and $13,000 from the MBR West sewer fund.

The bid pricing schedule that the city will refer to in order to assess the cost of work specifies the cost of each linear foot of line that will be replaced at the depths of which the line needed planned or emergency repair work is located beneath the street or sidewalk. Repairing the streets and sidewalks that need to cut into in order to access the underlying piping is also something that Sorraco will be authorized to complete, and the cost of those repairs will be based on both the amount of linear feet or square feet depending on the material and the type that is being repaired or replaced.

While Lathrop maintains its existing city employees that perform the majority of the routine repairs on the city’s infrastructure, the city has turned to contracts like the one with Sorraco in order to supplement its relatively small workforce as the city grows into a residential and commercial destination in the South County.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.