City Solicits Drainage Cleaning Bids

    On April 5th, four days after drainage backups from just five inches of rain flooded dozens of Central homes for a second time, Mayor Shelton announced that he intended to have 40 to 50 crews hired to begin cleaning out off-road drainage by April 7th. Now, almost two months later, bids are being taken to begin that work in June.
    Contractors have been invited to bid on two contracts. One contract is for cleaning out a portion of Beaver Bayou and a tributary to the Blackwater Bayou. The second contract is for pricing to clean drainage canals “as directed” by the city.
    In April, Mayor Shelton and the City Council appropriated $4 million of Central’s reserves to fund the off-road drainage cleaning. Mayor Shelton’s office then solicited bids from a number of contractors, but found that the scope of services was not adequately defined, resulting in bids that could not be properly evaluated.
    As a result, the process of beginning to clear out drainage canals was delayed another month. On May 12th Mayor Shelton’s office issued the two current Requests for Proposals. Contracts could be signed in June to begin cleaning out the drainage canals.