A month ago, resident Carol King went to the Austin City Council to complain about the state of the sidewalks around the city.

Tuesday, August 03, 1999

A month ago, resident Carol King went to the Austin City Council to complain about the state of the sidewalks around the city. A regular walker, King said "almost every sidewalk" needed repair.

Dorothy Sullivan was at the same council meeting. Her sidewalk was one in need of repair, but she couldn’t find anyone willing to make the repairs.

Monday night the council awarded a contract for sidewalk repair to Neitzell Construction, which will take care of all the sidewalks listed and deemed unsafe by city staff.

Neitzell, which had the low bid, offered 2,880 square feet of repairs for a total of $11,489.55, including removal of old sidewalk, and laying of aggregate base and 4-inch sidewalk. That’s a little more than $4 a square foot, with the average sidewalk panel (5×5:4) coming out at approximately 26 square feet or slightly more than $100.

Council member Dick Lang wanted to know if other sidewalks, not already on the list, could still be added and done for the contracted price.

The answer from the engineering department was a qualified yes, but there is no guarantee Neitzell Construction will do those sidewalks.

"I get calls from residents, elderly people, who wonder if I’m still in the construction business because they want a block of their sidewalk repaired, but they can’t find anyone to do it," Lang said. "The lack of contractors has been a real problem for people."

The answer this morning from owner Vern Neitzell, was yes, but the additional projects would have to be individually estimated.

"We’d be happy to do more," Neitzell said. "If people want to call, we’ll come out and do free estimates. We gave the city a really good price because it was such a large project, and it’s possible we could give the same rate to a homeowner, but it depends on the individual’s estimate. We can also do other flatwork, like driveways and patios."

From the city’s side of the equation, assistant city engineer Dan Fick said the city had no problem with adding addresses to the list of sidewalks to be repaired, as long as the property owners were planning to pay for the work in full. Anyone wanting to be assessed by the city for the work could not apply, unless the property owner waives his or her right to a public hearing.

Any property owner wanting his or her sidewalk repaired should call the engineering office at 437-9950 or Neitzell’s at 433-7052 as soon as possible.

City attorney David Hoversten reminded the council that the final decision would be the contractors’ – who is not obligated to go beyond the sidewalk units outlined in the bid already.

"Of course, and I agree with that," Lang said. "But it would help a lot of people if the contractor will do that."