The Opp City Council on Monday night signed a $75,000 engineering contract with Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood for engineering services on a project that will fix a drainage issue at Burger King.

Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood estimates the project will cost the City of Opp around $500,000 on the high end.

City Planner Jason Bryan initially told the city council about the collapsed pipe at an October meeting.

“We patched it and put new asphalt and it fell in again,” Bryan said at that meeting.

As part of the engineering fee, Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood will oversee the project from start to finish.

City Councilman LaVaughn Hines asked whether another firm would give a better price.

“Engineers cost a lot of money,” Councilman Skip Spurlin said. “They will oversee it.”

The breakdown of compensation is as follows:

• Final design and bidding phase, $40,000;
• Construction phase, $25,000;
• Geotechnical borings and report during design phase, $10,000.

The area in question is already a flood zone and flooded significantly last year.

Bryan said engineers believe it will be better to upsize the pipe to a 5×8 pipe from the current 48-inch pipe and use a concrete pipe instead of a steel one.

The city will have to solicit bids for the project once the design is completed.