MILLPORT, Ala. — The clock is ticking for the City of Millport to use state grant monies to fix its lagoon system, or risk losing the funding altogether.
On Monday, the Millport Town Council unanimously approved negotiations between Jonathan Bonner, project engineer from CFM Group in Tuscaloosa, and Double Diamond Construction of Northport, for a bid to fix the city’s failing wastewater lagoon. But according to Bonner and planning director for the West Alabama Regional Commission, Cory Johnson, even if Bonner is able to negotiate a maximum 10 percent reduction of project costs, the city will be $58,000 over budget. That figure doesn’t include the $68,000 match from the city, per guidelines of the $350,000 Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs grant awarded in November 2013.
At its June council meeting, the city filed for an extension of the project completion deadline after the first round of bids ranged from $700,000 to more than a $1 million. Prices for hauling away waste forced a change of the bid specs, which also opened a new option of acquiring land from Lamar County adjacent to the lagoon.
“I really need to issue a notice of award to contractor to meet the ADECA deadline,” Johnson said. “If we wait until next meeting, you may not be able to swing it with ADECA. We’ve already passed the deadline to be under contract with ADECA.”
The city had several options following the opening of bids on Aug. 15, including the base bid of cleaning out the lagoon and hauling away the waste. The other option was to build a pond adjacent to lagoon to dewater it. Bonner said the county has offered 22 acres of land for $28,000. Bonner said his request for the city to lease it was shot down at the last Lamar County Commissioners meeting. Millport, however, doesn’t have the money in its budget to purchase the land outright.
“In order to purchase the land, we have to find money to do that,” Mayor Icie Wriley said. “[Lamar County] have not made an offer for us to pay in installments or if they want it all up front. That’s a big portion of the money right there.”
A third option would have carried a $270,000 budget, nearly $48,000 more than the option of building a lagoon on county land. Either way, the city would have been responsible for footing more than the $68,000 match required by ADECA.
Bonner said negotiations can continue so long as the city issued a letter of intent to purchase the land, per previous conversations with Lamar County Probate Judge and County Commissioners Chair Johnny Rogers.
Millport’s revamped water treatment facility is up and running, but a lack of automation and the potential failure of old valves pose a hurdle to everyday use.
Bonner said initial runs in July produced water “clear to the bottom of the basin.” Enhancements made will ensure the city uses less chlorine to reduce the amount of iron in the water supply. Additionally, the city will save as much as $170 a day due to fewer backwashes and chemical purchases. The city will pump a million fewer gallons per month.
Bonner, however, has seen it all before.
“I’ve been to that point right there four times, with the same result each time,” said Bonner, who noted previous attempts to get the city to automate the system. “We’d either have something break, or they just wouldn’t turn it on. We’d have mechanical issues because it had sat so long.”
Wriley asked Bonner what the city has to do to use the new facility every day, to which Bonner replied “turn it on.”
The city, though, won’t know the cost of Bonner’s recommendations to rebuild as many as four valves and install an automated controller system until Bonner speaks with a contractor. Bonner compared the condition of the valves to a car that had several million miles of use.
“If one fails, you will have no water in this town,” Bonner said. “The plant won’t work without them.”
Bonner will investigate potential costs of automation and rebuilding valves and report back to the board at a later date.
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