Resolution 01-23
To: Members of Dublin City Council
From: Megan D. O’Callaghan, P.E., City Manager
Date: January 3, 2023
Initiated By: Robert E. Ranc, Jr., Deputy City Manager/Chief Operating Officer
Paul A. Hammersmith, P.E., Director of Engineering/City Engineer
Brian D. Gable, P.E., Deputy Director of Engineering – Design & Construction
Chris W. Huber, P.E., Civil Engineer II
Re: Resolution 01-23 – Waiving Competitive Bidding as Being in the Best Interest
of the City and Authorizing the City Manager to Accept Chuck’s Septic Tank,
Sewer & Drain Cleaning, Inc.’s (CST) Proposal for the Purpose of Installing
Telecommunication Conduits for the South High Street Utility Burial – Phase
1 Project (19-030-CIP)
Background
As part of the Downtown Historic District beautification efforts, the City will be relocating the existing
overhead utility lines along South High Street through the South High Street Utility Burial - Phase 1
Project (Project) by installing underground electric (AEP Ohio, or AEP) and telecommunication utilities
(Spectrum, AT&T, Breezeline, and Dublink) to service the affected parcels. The Project consists of two
phases as requested by AEP. The Phase 1 Project area includes Franklin Street south of West Bridge
Street and the west side of South High Street between West Bridge Street and Short Street. The
Phase 2 area includes the east side of South High Street and Blacksmith Lane between West Bridge
Street and Short Street. A location map is provided at the end of this memo. At the completion of the
Project, all overhead utility lines and poles along South High Street will be removed between West
Bridge Street and Short Street.
Presently, the Phase 1 Project is anticipated to be complete by the summer of 2023. The Phase 1
underground improvements are scheduled to be performed in advance of the Franklin Street
Improvements Project, which includes road reconstruction, sidewalks, curb ramps, and street trees on
Franklin Street between Sells Alley and Waterford Drive.
Summary
Since early 2019, City staff has coordinated extensively with AEP to determine the scope of work and
develop the construction drawings necessary to bury existing overhead electric facilities for the
Project. As a part of the Project, Council approved the Letter of Agreement (Resolution 66-22) with
the Ohio Power Company (AEP Ohio) to remove all existing overhead electric facilities and install new
underground electric facilities in the Phase 1 Project area. AEP will receive reimbursement from the
City for the cost of their work. AEP’s contractor will install all residential and commercial service
laterals including telecommunication laterals.
As part of the Project, the City is responsible for the compensating the telecommunication companies
for their relocation and utility burial. While each of the four telecommunications utilities and AEP could
install their own conduits, impacts to the surrounding neighborhood and businesses would be
substantially increased with five separate contractors performing burial work. The telecommunication
conduits will be in close proximity to those being installed by AEP and will be generally parallel to the
electric conduits.
Office of the City Manager
5555 Perimeter Drive • Dublin, OH 43017-1090
Phone: 614-410-4400 • Fax: 614-410-4490 Memo
Resolution 01-23 – Waiving Competitive Bidding as Being in the Best Interest of the City and Authorizing
the City Manager to Accept Chuck’s Septic Tank, Sewer & Drain Cleaning, Inc.’s (CST) Proposal for the
Purpose of Installing Telecommunication Conduits for the South High Street Utility Burial – Phase 1 Project
(19-030-CIP)
January 3, 2023
Page 2 of 4
In addition to the considerations outlined above, staff recommends utilizing a single contractor for the
electric and telecommunication conduit installation, for the following reasons:
• From a constructability perspective, the close proximity between the AEP conduits and the
telecommunication conduits would make it impractical to have multiple separate contractors
perform this operation within the current project timeframe.
• Separate contractors – up to five (one per utility) – would drastically increase the project
duration and create repetitive work and traffic impacts.
• The neighborhood impact would increase substantially with multiple contractors, each working
at different times, in different locations, with different closures, and impacting each installation
location for up to five separate occasions. This amount of impact would likely be difficult for
area businesses and frustrate residents.
• A single contractor affords the City an opportunity to significantly reduce overall project cost
by eliminating duplicate and/or overlapping work items. Some examples of this overlapping
work with multiple contractors include mobilization, maintaining traffic, restoration, and
landscaping costs.
AEP has a pre-approved list of contractors with quoted prices for work items. The current list of pre-
approved contractors includes Thayer Electric, New River Electric, and CST Utilities. Based on the
project and the type of work being performed, AEP selects a contractor from their pre-approved list
with the most experience in the appropriate work type to be their prime contractor for the project.
For this Project, AEP is contracting with Chuck’s Septic Tank, Sewer & Drain Cleaning, Inc. (CST) to
install electric conduit for their portion of the Project.
CST is located locally in Grove City, Ohio. In 2013, CST expanded from septic tank and drain cleaning
services to utility construction including directional boring and hydro-excavation. CST specializes in
directional boring and hydro-excavation, which is ideal for working in developed areas to minimize
damage to property, including existing utilities and infrastructure, and provides an enhancement to
public safety. The City has coordinated with AEP and the telecommunications companies since 2019
and with CST since AEP selected CST for the Project (nearly a year ago). AEP desired to have CST
present for design and project meetings to ensure a clear understanding of the work and discuss
associated details to most efficiently complete the Project.
Staff has requested a quote from CST and has thoroughly reviewed their qualifications and received
favorable/positive references from major utility companies, other municipalities and local school
districts regarding their work on prior projects. The City’s experience with CST involves emergency
repairs for storm and sanitary sewer items, and vacuum excavation as needed.
The CST proposal estimated the total costs of their work at $1,619,429.01, which is under the
engineer’s cost estimate of $1,681,204.00. Staff has performed a comparative cost analysis, which
includes comparing recent bid prices from other projects of similar scope, researching the Ohio
Department of Transportation (ODOT) average cost data, and coordinated with pertinent City
departments and consultants to compare cost data. Based on this research, staff strongly believes
these prices are consistent with present market conditions and comparable bid costs. This proposal
also includes the cost for all restoration associated with the Project, for both AEP and the
telecommunication installations. Should the CST proposal not be accepted, AEP’s agreed cost of
$1,203,183.14 would increase to include the associated restoration items. Additionally, this proposal
Resolution 01-23 – Waiving Competitive Bidding as Being in the Best Interest of the City and Authorizing
the City Manager to Accept Chuck’s Septic Tank, Sewer & Drain Cleaning, Inc.’s (CST) Proposal for the
Purpose of Installing Telecommunication Conduits for the South High Street Utility Burial – Phase 1 Project
(19-030-CIP)
January 3, 2023
Page 3 of 4
includes extensive landscaping and screening around all of the above ground utility items (electric
transformers, telecommunication pedestals, etc.).
The Phase 1 Project is funded in the 2022-2026 Capital Improvements Program (CIP) from the South
High Street Utility Burial, Phase 1 (ET203) in the amount of $1.825 million and funded further through
Ordinance 19-22 with an additional $2.32 million.
Staff believes it is critical to have a single contractor perform the telecommunications conduit
installations. As a result, it is necessary Council determine it to be in the best interest of the City for
the public health, safety, and welfare of the City and the Downtown Historic District to waive
competitive bidding for this proposed work.
Recommendation
Staff has thoroughly reviewed the proposal submitted by Chuck’s Septic Tank, Sewer & Drain
Cleaning, Inc. (CST). This contractor has not previously performed contract work for the City of
Dublin; therefore, staff has made inquiries with references of CST and received positive feedback
regarding their work with previous owners on similar project types, scopes, and budgets. These
references were from major utility companies, other municipalities and local school districts regarding
CST’s work on prior projects.
Staff recommends Council approval of Resolution 01-23 waiving competitive bidding as being in the
best interest of the City and authorizing the City Manager accept Chuck’s Septic Tank, Sewer & Drain
Cleaning, Inc.’s proposal in the amount of $1,619,429.01 for the purpose of installing
telecommunication conduits for the South High Street Utility Burial – Phase 1 Project (19-030-CIP).
Resolution 01-23 – Waiving Competitive Bidding as Being in the Best Interest of the City and Authorizing
the City Manager to Accept Chuck’s Septic Tank, Sewer & Drain Cleaning, Inc.’s (CST) Proposal for the
Purpose of Installing Telecommunication Conduits for the South High Street Utility Burial – Phase 1 Project
(19-030-CIP)
January 3, 2023
Page 4 of 4
Project Location Map