They will be our general contractor for the future WWTP |
major municipal project. Our current waste water treatment plant (WWTP), though continuing to function with passing grades from the state, no longer can meet the new water quality standards set by the DNR. No upgrade to our current system will do. There is no software program that we can download (especially because the technology we're running on is from the 1980s). Nope. We got to start from scratch. And, of course, these things aren't cheap to design or build.
Last Tuesday night in council chambers the common council of the City of Chetek officially awarded the bid to Market & Johnson of Stillwater, Minnesota to be the general contractor for our new waste water treatment plant. Construction will begin as soon as the snow goes.
They did that |
You may have heard of them as they were the prime movers behind the remodeling of the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library, the new transit facility and the Children's Museum, all of Eau Claire. On January 19, in what was described to us as a competitive bidding process, the envelopes were opened and of the four general contractors they had the low bid (and by USDA rules a municipality that receives USDA funding has to take the low bid).
What's
even more gratifying to learn is that many of the sub-Not a long commute for these guys
contractors,
who will be doing the lion's share of the work, are local including
Stout Construction (who will be handling all the earthwork), Huff
Concrete of Chippewa Falls, B&B Electric of Eau Claire and J.F.
Ahern of Menomonie. Not only is it great to employ local workers it
also helps in the event of a hiccup in the project to not have to
wait to hear from “headquarters” a state or two away.
The Roberts' plant was real intriguing |
We'll be using a system akin to what Bloomer is using |
That
was 2021. It takes time to design and engineer these kinds of
projects and now that we've reached this stage in the process a year
and a half later our costs have gone up. At our meeting last week,
Tia McCarthy of CBS2
,
the engineer overseeing the project, carefully walked us through from
where we've been and brought us up to where we are now. In 2021, our
estimated costs of design and construction was $20.6 million dollars
(a little over half of which will be paid by the USDA). Today this
same project will run just shy of $25 million or a difference of $4.2
million from the original estimate. What gives? Simple. Inflation and
economic forces outside our control. Them's the breaks.Tia was the 2022 American Council
of Engineering Companies (ACEC)
of Wisconsin
Young Professional of the Year recipient
Here were the principal bidders
Here's the fine print |
We've already begun the process of applying for additional grant and/or low interest loan money to cover the $4.2 million. As soon as the snow field in the south industrial park evaporates come March or April, expect to see the blue trucks of Stout Construction begin to shape and level and move earth making way for the plant that has to be operational come November 2024. Make sure to look either at the City of Chetek's or Jeff Martin, Mayor's FB pages for updates and pictures as we slow-walk through from first turned dirt to ceremonial “first flush” toward the end of next year.
Coming soon to an industrial park near you |