Oxnard—The City Council during its Tuesday, September 1 meeting ratified an emergency order for sewer collection system repairs at Hemlock Street and Patterson Road.
ACCORDING to City code, Mayor Luis McArthur said the Director of Public Works may dispense with public bidding requirements pursuant to contract code section 22050 to make emergency repairs to the City's sewer collection system and authorize the City Manager to enter into any contracts over $220,000 that may be required to abate the emergency.
Council Member Bert Perello said the incident happened in part of his District and understands emergency items.
"Sewers are not sexy until something goes wrong and it comes up on the street," he said. "The neighborhoods get excited, Public Works goes to Town, and the City Manager gets whatever we need to do, and it's a serious health issue."
He said soil was sucked into the sewer and put into the lift pump station.
"Can you explain how that works and the manhole collapses, without getting into too much detail?" he asked. "This is one of those things: before I got on this Council, unintended, extreme deferred maintenance was a big issue. The things underground are extremely important and expensive."
Wolfe agreed that sewers are not sexy,…
