Chamber concerned about new costs of the wastewater treatment plant upgrades
By DAVE SCHULTZ
Bids were opened for the upgrades required on the city’s wastewater treatment plant Tuesday, and the amount bid — particularly on a biosolids proposal that was way over the engineer’s estimate — caused no small amount of concern.
The only bid for the biosolids treatment location came in at $17.2 million. The estimate cost posted by DLZ, the engineering firm heading up the project, at $9.1 million.
Merrell Brothers of Kokomo is the developer of the biosolids technology, and presented it to the city’s Board of Works and Public Safety in November of 2021. The presentation impressed everyone who reviewed it, and it was cited as having ecological benefits as well as financial benefits.
As a result, the wastewater upgrades were designed to use the biosolids technology as the project’s endgame.
Bids were also opened for two other parts of the wastewater improvements.
The James S. Jackson Co. of Bluffton is the apparent low bidder for the wastewater treatment plant improvements with a base nearly $31.9 million and a total of $36.4 million once the alternate bids were added to the base bid. The engineer’s estimates were $37.2 million for the base bid and $44 million with the alternates added.
The apparent low bid for collection system pipe and manhole lining was Indianapolis-based Miller Pipeline, with a base bid of $3.1 million. The bid with the alternates added is $4.1 million. The engineer’s estimates were $4.3 million and nearly $6.5 million for the base and alternates, respectively.
That pushed the total amount of the projects to $57.7 million.
The bids were opened during the Board of Public Works and Safety meeting, which started at 4:30 p.m., and were discussed at length during the Bluffton Common Council meeting, which started at 6 p.m.
Casey Erwin, a project manager with DLZ, and Eric Walsh of BakerTilly, the firm that provides financial guidance to the city, explained that there are problems going forward. Since the plant improvements were designed with the use of the biosolids technology, to go without it could mean a redesign of the plant’s improvements. That will take time to revise the engineering and the financing through the Indiana Finance Authority’s State Revolving Fund.
There are a couple of deadlines that cause concern. The city has been approved for SRF funding a no interest, in part, because it is serving the Wells County Regional Sewer District’s projects. The drop-dead deadline to get the financing put together in final form is June 30, Walsh said.
Going past June 30 will mean the city’s funding would go into the 2023-24 schedule, and Walsh said there’s no guarantee Bluffton will receive such favorable terms.
Then there’s the more immediate problem. The deadline to submit changes to the engineering plan is April 1 — a mere 10 days away.
Mayor John Whicker was borderline incredulous about the problem — particularly with Merrell Brothers.
“Two years ago, Merrell Brothers told us $3 million, but that number kept going up,” he said. “I can’t tell you how disappointed I am. They blew themselves out of the water with that number.”
Council members were not happy, either, that the final cost of the project was as high as it was. Council member Chandler Gerber wondered if the project could be reworked in phases, maybe into 15-year improvements.
As it is, Gerber said, the city could be on the hook for $57 million plus interest. “There’s a lot of confusion about this,” Gerber said.
The fact that city leaders are now forced to rework matters in a hurry irritated Council President Scott Mentzer: “There’s a lot of questions I have about how we got here, but I don’t think they’re important as to where we are now,” he said.
The conversation included making short-term changes to the project that will get the improvements started and meet the deadline. Whicker asked Erwin if he could examine changes along that line and report back by Friday.
daves@news-banner.com
