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BY CAROL ARNETT

Ameren UE offered apologies for the problems caused by the work they are doing on St. Catherine Street and Paddock Drive.

Ameren is burying lines in that neighborhood. The company they have subcontracted with to do the work, Henkels and McCoy, inadvertently hit eight houses sewer lateral lines while digging to bury power lines.

Mark Neelan, manager of Reliability Improvement for Ameren, spoke at the Florissant City Council meeting Monday night. “Shortly after work started, we started getting calls about the sewer laterals,” he said. “We have eight confirmed hits.”

After the sewer laterals were hit, Ameren hired two plumbers to determine the location of other sewer laterals.

“Henkels and McCoy was drilling at the five to seven feet level,” Neelan said. The gas lines, he said, are usually at three to four feet and the sewer at nine to ten feet. “We thought this would work, and this is where we had the problem,” he said.

“The depths of the sewer laterals are all over the board in this area,” Neelan said. “Some of the homes have basements, and some don’t,” he added, saying that whether or not a house has a basement affects the depth of the lateral.

“Ameren UE called all eight residents to apologize,” Neelan said. “Repairs were made and there is still some clean-up going on.” Neelan said he met with City Director of Public Works Lou Jearls. “At his suggestion, we did a video camera surveillance of all the sewer laterals that Henkels and McCoy crossed,” he said. The survey showed no damage to any other laterals.

“Ameren UE apologizes,” Neelan said. “I apologize to the residents and to the city, since I know you fielded several calls. We learned a hard but valuable lesson.”

Neelan said that Ameren was burying the lines that go from pole to pole, not the lines that go from the pole to each individual house. “Residents can underground the final line, but they must hire an electrician to do work at the home,” Neelan said. Ameren will do its portion at no cost and give the resident $750 to offset the cost of the electrician. Neelan said the local electricians’ union estimates that the electrician’s cost for most homes will be between $1200 and $2000.

Councilman Andrew Podleski, whose ward is affected by the project, said residents could call either him or city hall if they had any further problems.

In other action, the council:

o Passed a bill authorizing a special use permit for Garden Plaza of Florissant, a senior living community at 2300-2302 Parker Road.

o Passed a bill authorizing the city to award an exclusive license agreement for trash collection in the city. The city will now begin negotiating with trash haulers, and a bill authorizing a specific hauler will have to come before the council for approval.

o Passed a bill designating Kozak Realty as the preferred developer for the News Halls Ferry and Parker Road redevelopment area

o Passed a bill providing for the annexation of the area generally bounded by the city golf course, Lindbergh Boulevard, Old Halls Ferry and the city limits.

o Approved a request by Bethany Lynn for an animal permit to keep two ducks at her home on Nashua Drive.

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