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LANETT — The Lanett City Council approved an emergency expenditure of $272,584 at its Monday meeting to take care of a sewer line problem that may be affecting Tanyard Creek. The money will be taken from a $300,000 line of credit that was previously approved by Renasant Bank.

A sewer line leak may be the source of e coli bacteria that was found in the Tanyard Creek water by routine monitoring that’s being done by Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. Water Department Superintendent Richard Chapman told the council he had been informed of this in June and that the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) had followed that up by telling him the city could be subject to fines if it did not take action to address this problem.

E coli bacteria can cause infections in the GI tract, urinary tract and other parts of the human body. Most of the time it can live in your gut without hurting you but some strains will make you sick with diarrhea, vomiting and fever. One strain of e coli known as STEC can cause severe illness.

Crawford Grading & Pipeline, Inc. of Luthersville, Ga. has studied the problem and recommended a plan of action to address it. It would involve the installation of some new manholes, the removal of a wall and fence and replacing them, the replacement of some existing pipes and putting in some bedding stone and rip rap. They are proposing to put in a new sewer line beside the existing one. Some power poles will have to be replaced as well.

Much of the work will be done along North Lanier Avenue.

Another resolution that was on Monday’s agenda would have addressed a water problem in the historic Fraternal Hall and Stores (or Davis) Building in downtown Lanett but was tabled for further consideration. Action on this would have resolved a problem that has been going on for ten years now.

In 2014, the city shut off a water main on First Street. This affected the historic downtown building. As a temporary measure, city water had been going into the building from lines that were on top of the ground. A permanent fix would involve running water lines from five meters on the back of the building to one of the corners on the front. This work would take about five hours to do.

A resolution that was on the agenda would permit this.

Council Member Angelia Thomas doubted this was the right course to follow. “I’m not sure this is the right thing to do,” she said. “We could be opening up a big can of worms. Others will think we need to go onto their property to fix a problem.”

Council Member Tifton Dobbs was sympathetic to taking action. He said the city’s water department had created the problem in 2014 and that a hardship has existed since that time. “It’s difficult to get water into the building,” he said. “An attorney general’s opinion on this said that if the city caused the problem it should fix it. I think we should run lines to the corner of the building. Some people have expressed interest in locating in those store spaces but won’t do it without running water.”

Code Enforcement Officer Johnny Wood brought up another point. “The building needs to be inspected before we run water into it,” he said. “There’s no point in doing this if the building isn’t within codes.”

On another topic, Wood had a list of 36 separate properties in the city that were in need of weed liens. The council will take action on this at its next meeting.

“We will give them 21 days to clean up their property,” he explained. “If they haven’t taken any action by then, the city can do it and then place a lien on the property to get back our cost.”