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"It's a little bit time consuming," Guth said. "The guy with the wand moves pretty fast and then the squeegee follows him and then the rig kind of moves along as they progress. The whole purpose is to keep the moisture out, which creates the potholes. The water freezes and that pops the asphalt out."
The pothole-patching and crack-sealing project was one of several largely symbolic efforts that constituted the inaugural day of the new Centennial public works contract with CH2M Hill, a locally based federal government contractor.
July 1, the firm and its subcontractors, DMJM Harris and American Civil Contractors, began providing such services as street maintenance and traffic engineering in the city. Before the year is out, snow removal will be added to CH2M Hill's list of responsibilities.
This week's kickoff to the $40 million, five-year contract has been highly anticipated by city officials and controversial. Arapahoe County had been Centennial's public works contractor since the city's 2001 incorporation. This week's changeover has been called the largest public-to-private transfer of its kind in the nation.
It was a day of celebration, photo opportunities and public works puns that began when city manager Jacque Wedding-Scott thanked public works director Dave Zelenok for leading efforts to secure a satisfactory public works contract.
"The City of Centennial's partnership with CH2M Hill, American Civil Contractors and DMJM Harris is a conscious choice and one that we know will pave - I knew Dave would appreciate that one - pave the way to greatness for this city," Wedding-Scott told about 50 city officials and others who had gathered at the new Centennial Public Works Yard on South Potomac Street.
Mayor Pro Tem Rebecca McClellan, who served on the contractor selection committee, said CH2M Hill was chosen from among a considerable competition of bidders.
"One of the things that made the decision a little bit easier for us was not only are they such an economical option for us for the day-to-day normal years that we hope we'll experience more in the future, but they also have the great capacity to keep us covered in those extraordinary years that we've experienced lately," she said.
Although CH2M Hill has yet to fire up its snow-removal equipment, the firm had a laundry list of summer projects July 1 - a sort of showcase of the public works spectrum that residents will see performed under the City of Centennial banner.
"It's very exciting. We are looking forward to delivering this service to the city," Guth said. "Obviously, getting to this point was a lot of hard work and a little bit of stress, but we feel confident we have everybody in the right place and all the equipment to do the job."
At the intersection of Arapahoe Road and Lima Street, City Councilmember Ron Weidmann helped hammer in a new larger street sign that boasts the city's logo as a group of city officials, staff and press looked on.
The image, as seen by passing motorists, prompted the quip - "How many city staffers does it take to put up a street sign?" - from more than one city official.
Meanwhile, at an intersection near Walnut Hills Elementary, a public works team was using a propane-powered torch to apply durable thermoplastic on top of the fading paint of a once-visible crosswalk.
"You heat up the pavement to at least 300 degrees so the pavement is ready to accept the thermoplastic," said supervisor Justin Stewart. "Then, you heat up the thermoplastic and melt that into the pavement so it's a permanent fixture. It should hold four to five years, potentially longer."
As was expected, the debut of the CH2M Hill contract did not come off without a couple of minor hitches. The Arapahoe Road sign was mistakenly printed as "Arapahoe Street" and a city logo sticker placed over an Arapahoe County logo on South Poplar Court covered the "S." on Poplar Court.
Wedding-Scott, demonstrating her trademark sense of humor, assured those in attendance that both mistakes would be corrected soon, at least in relative government services terms.
In the next five to seven years, all street signs in the city will be brought up to a new code that requires a 9-inch width. The Arapahoe County logo will be replaced by Centennial's - sometimes with a sticker, sometimes by switching out the entire sign.
Along with the public works launch, July 1 marked the beginning of the new Centennial Call Center, a 24-hour venue for residents to get their questions answered about public works and other city services. The new all-purpose city telephone number is 303-325-8000.
303-566-4109 | pjones@ccnewspapers.com
