City must change attorneys in lawsuit

A potential conflict of interest will require Shelbyville's city council to secure an attorney to collect damages from the city's utility for the repair of the city's underground storm water flume last year.

Since last year, council members have spoken about getting reimbursement from Shelbyville Power, Water and Sewer for the cost of the collapsed underground flume following the release last July of an engineer's report that identified the cause of its failure, with fingers pointed at work done by a contractor employed by the utility.

City Attorney Ginger Shofner recently informed the city council that she will not be able to move forward with any action over damage to the flume due to the fact that Fred Hunt, who represents the city utility, belongs to the same law firm as she does.

A report from CBC Engineers & Associates stated last year that the cause of the collapse was two sources of water intrusion into the space around the flume, one of which was an open, but unused sanitary sewer line and the other a broken pressure relief valve on the flume itself.

Ed Craig, who was city manager at the time of the collapse, stated at the time that "the sanitary sewer line being open had something to do with Shelbyville Power System and their contractor" when they installed a new sewer line last year near the flume on North Brittain Street.

The flume was installed 47 years ago and the valve had remained in place until the contractors for Shelbyville Power, Mayse Construction Co. of Chattanooga, uncovered the area, Craig said.

"The old sewer line was supposed to be shut off and the failure to do that allowed the water to get back there," Craig explained last year.

Final figures for the repair totalled $440,563.86, but whoever ends up paying for the repair will be out $364,455.26.

Report revealed cause

The engineering report stated that the "significant rainfall event" on May 1-3, 2009 had the flume flowing full, but on May 2, city officials observed a ground depression in the grass area between North Main and North Brittain streets. By the next day, the depression had increased and North Main was closed.

It wasn't until a week later when it was safe enough to enter the flume that it was discovered that the invert of the flume had failed by bucking up inside the structure.

The broken valve was located 10 feet downstream of the upstream end of the failed section of the flume, the report reads. Also, the backflow preventing gate for the valve was missing and "backfill material was visible on the outside of the valve."

After the failed part of the flume was removed, engineers returned on June 9 to inspect the area and that's when the open sewer line was discovered.

The report stated that during the preparation work for placing in the new flume section, "the new sanitary manhole was plugged in order to bypass sewage around the sanitary lines in the excavation area."

"Shortly after the manhole was plugged, sewage was observed discharging out underneath the flume into the excavation in the same area ...."

The report also says that Shelbyville Power performed a leak test with fluorescent green dye, and the dye was seen discharging from underneath the flume. The old line was also examined with a video camera by the utility and "it was determined that this line has been compromised and was leaking under the flume," the report reads.

The report indicted that the valve on the old sewer line had remained open instead of being shut, which allowed water and sewage to continue to flow in the old line, which crossed under the flume.