After opening construction bids for a new water reclamation treatment facility that came in as much as $14 million over the anticipated $80 million projections, the Upper Thompson Sanitation District voted unanimously not to issue a notice of award.
Seven contractors were qualified to bid on the project to replace the water treatment plant, which was built in 1975. The date for the bidding was pushed back from Feb. 19 to March 5 at the request of one of the contractors.
Bids were received by only two of the qualified contractors, one for $94 million and the other for $111.2 million.
The UTSD board met for almost four hours Tuesday night, including more than an hour and a half in a closed-door executive session to discuss their options before voting to not move forward.
“This is a hard pill to swallow,” said board member Sue Doylen, “We have put so much into this, and we have cut so much along the way, and even with the bids that we have received, we still have to be cutting more. I think, at this point, we need to step back.”
Other board members expressed similar sentiments after the lengthy process. Kent Bosch said the situation would require the board to revisit “retrofitting” the current plant, which was constructed in 1975.
Steve Ravel, project engineer with Merrick and Company, had served as the project consultant over the past several years for the new water reclamation facility, lift station, and interceptor improvements project. Property along Mall Road was acquired near the present site, detailed site plans were drawn up, and approvals from regulatory and licensing agencies were sought.
After the vote was taken, Mike Morton categorized the mood in the room to that of a funeral.
Earlier in the meeting, Andrew Kessler, owner of the Ride-A-Kart amusement park located at the intersection of Mall Road and U.S. Highway 34, was sworn in as a new board remember. He was appointed to take the seat recently vacated by Stan Gengler. Kessler’s business is located across the road from the land where the new state-of-the-art water treatment plant would have been built.
Morton told Kessler it was good to have someone on the board who did not have grey hair.
The seven contractors included Archer Western Construction, LLC, Flatiron Constructors, Inc., Glacier Construction Co., Inc., Hensel Phelps, J.R. Filanc Construction Company, Inc., RN Civil Construction, LLC, and Thalle Construction Company.