The Clearwater-Clear Lake Sewer Authority Board Tuesday voted to move ahead with soliciting bids for improvements to the wastewater treatment facility.

 

The action came after a 30-minute discussion with Greg Ackerson of Apex  and Doug Lubben from Donohue Associates at a special meeting at Clear Lake City Hall.

 

Last year, the sewer authority was awarded a $1.2 million grant to make improvements consisting of four primary elements:

 

• Installing a sludge dewatering system to replace the practice of discharging waste solids/sludge to an aerated lagoon;

 

• Improving the pre-treatment building, including a new HVAC system and new a influent screen;

 

• Upgrading the SCADA (data acquisition) system;

 

• Installing new rapid infiltration basins to prevent discharge of phosphorus into the Mississippi River.

 

The grant is contingent on the sewer authority contributing at least $200,000 for the project.

 

In addition, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) must sign off on each of the elements in the project design.

 

After submitting design drawings that were 90-95% complete, Lubben said it looks like there shouldn’t be a problem from the MPCA.                 

 

But in order to officially release the grant money, the Public Facilities Authority (PFA) wants actual bid numbers, not just an engineer’s estimate for the project.

 

Tuesday, members of the board reviewed a timeline for the project, as well as costs associated with each element.

 

Ackerson said the board would ultimately have to decide how much they were willing to spend for the project, which would likely be more than the grant amount. Estimates are about $1.6 million.

 

Lubben presented a bid scenario that would give the board a few different options by breaking the bid into sections.

 

The main part of the bid is the dewatering system, estimated at about $654,232. The bid also includes three alternates: 1. Pre-treatment building improvements ($269,851); 2. SCADA system improvements ($222,722) and 3. Rapid infiltration basin  improvements ($473,578).

 

Lubben said when the bids come in, the board could choose to do any or all of the alternates, depending on the bid prices and how much they wanted to spend.

 

The board voted to solicit bids, with bid opening set for May 10. The bids will be reviewed by the engineer and presented to the board at its May 17 meeting. At that meeting, the board could award the bid, but will not sign an agreement with the contractor until the PFA officially executes the grant agreement, which could be another 60 days.