Dear NW Natural,
This morning PGE was out on Christopher St. here in Molalla, replacing old power lines. During their pot holing we found that NW Natural drilled though the City’s storm drain between 216 and 212 Christopher St (image attached). Please have your office coordinate relocation of this Gas service, and perform repairs to the City Storm line. You will need to pull a Public Works ROW Permit from City Hall, and have the repaired storm-line inspected by the City before backfilling. PGE will be finishing their work by the end of next week, so you may be able to coordinate asphalt patchback with them. In either case, the City requests this work be done no later than 2/14/20.
Respectfully,
Andy Peters
City of Molalla
Public Works Operations Supervisor
(503) 829-6855 x220
Cell: 503-793-0507
117 N Molalla Ave
Molalla, OR 97038
From: Gerald Fisher <gfisher@cityofmolalla.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2019 6:37 PM
To: NWN Permits <nwnpermits@nwnatural.com>; prereqcoord@pgn.com; Jaison Krueger <jkrueger@wavebroadband.com>; Mpaulsen@Molalla.Com
Cc: Adam Shultz <ashultz@cityofmolalla.com>; Andy Peters <apeters@cityofmolalla.com>; Dan Huff <dhuff@cityofmolalla.com>; Sam Miller <smiller@cityofmolalla.com>
Subject: Potential new standards for City of Molalla Franchise utilities
To all franshise utility representatives,
Below is an image of a franchise utility line that was bored through our sewer system. This has become a recurring theme in my short time here in Molalla due to folks not following Public Works Standards and your Public Works Permit.
All utilities and contractors are required to pothole by vac-ex to determine location and depth of all utilities and this has not been happening. These damages to our systems come at a huge cost to the City in loss of staff productivity while we chase down customer complaints and backups, damage to our lift stations, damage to our treatment plant equipment. If this continues then we may be forced to change our standards for all utilites to only allow for open excavation, crossings at designated locations set by Public Works, requirements to only install in Public Utilities Easements outside of the public right of way (except crossings at designated locations). We don’t want to go to that extreme so I’m asking that you share this information with your staff, contractors, and subcontractors so this type of damage stops. This damage will be repaired by City forces or a contractor for the City and all charges including Administrative time will be backcharged to the utility responsible. It is cheaper to do it right the first time then the alternative. Thanks in advance for changing your internal processes to make sure this doesn’t happen in the future.
Regards,
Gerald Fisher, P.E. | Public Works Director
City of Molalla
117 N Molalla Ave. | PO Box 248 |Molalla, OR 97038
Office: 503.829.6855 | Direct: 503.759.0218
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