Wastewater Treatment Plant Costs Now Over $5 Million

By Gordon HopkinsThe Fairbury City Council voted to put proposed upgrades and renovations to the city’s wastewater treatment plant out for bids at a meeting on February 15, 2022. Bids were received on April 26 and reviewed by the city council at a meeting on Tuesday, May 18.Last year, the city approved plans to renovate the wastewater treatment plant.A total of three bids were received for the project. Bids were submitted by BRB Contractors Construction, Inc. of Topeka, Kansas; Walters Morgan Construction, Inc. of Manhattan, Kansas and Building Crafts, Inc, of Red Oak, Iowa. Alternate pricing was provided for sandblasting and painting the primary clarifier mechanism (Alternate #1), providing stainless steel below-water final clarifier components for both new mechanisms (Alternate #3), and then an add-alternate to provide self-cleaning UV disinfection units. The stated completion dates were to be substantially complete by October 1, 2023, and final completion achieved by December 1, 2023.Craig Reinsch, senior engineer for Olsson Associates, the engineering firm that reviewed the bids, recommended the low bidder, BRB. In a memorandum to the council presented at the meeting, Reinsch wrote, “All bidders have shown that they are responsive and responsible bidders. It is our recommendation that the city should award the bid to BRB Construction, Inc, for the contract price of $5,071,000, plus alternate components as we will discuss.”AlternatesThe bids included various alternate components that the council could choose to include or not in the final project, at additional costs.There were two options for the primary clarifier. A clarifier is used to remove solid particulates or suspended solids from liquid. One is to sandblast and repaint the clarifier, which would cost $74,000. Reinsch said the clarifier would likely have to be repainted again in the future, “So, the last time it was done (was) in ‘98. So, we’re looking at about 25 years”The other option was to use stainless steel components, which would cost $161,300. At the meeting, Reinsch said, “The life expectancy of the equipment, regardless of material, is around 50,40 to 50 years.”Reinsch noted if the council went with stainless steel, “So then you wouldn’t have to paint it in the middle, which would be 20 or 25 years from now.”Fairbury Mayor Spencer Brown recommended including the entire package of alternates, noting that not doing them now would likely cost the city more in the future, “I think the alternates are a slam dunk.”The City Council agreed and voted unanimously for the BRB bids with the complete package of alternates. Reinsch reported the cost to be $5.315 million.FundingIn March of 2021, the City Council voted to file an application for funding with the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) to pay for improvements to the plant. The estimated cost at that time was approximately $3.5 million, according to Fairbury City Administrator Robert Messbarger.The city received approval for a $3.5 million with an additional $525,00 in loan forgiveness.The city must now find a way to pay for the remainder of the cost.Reinsch said, “Remember, as we start on the project, the funds that are expended are going to be slow played. And so that will gain that time, the two, three, five months that we need to determine, is the additional funding through the state revolving funds available? Or does it need to be acquired from a different source?”Mayor Spencer Brown said, “We’re obviously not happy with where the bids came in. I don’t think anybody’s like anybody surprised that the bids were higher just because of where the economy’s at right now.”

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