EUREKA SPRINGS — Bids for the state-mandated fluoride treatment facilities at the Carroll-Boone Water District will be taken around Nov. 19, said McGoodwin, Williams & Yates President Brad Hammond at the Oct. 17 board meeting.
Hammond requested the board hold a special meeting before Thanksgiving to award the bid. The project has to be completed and operational by Oct. 31, 2014, to be in accordance with the grant agreement with Delta Dental, he said.
“We’re going to have a substantial completion date for September just to give us a little bit more cushion,” he said. He added MWY has not had time to update the $650,000 estimate.
“We’ll see what contractors say it will cost.”
Delta Dental has pledged $763,000 to the startup construction cost.
Hammond said the bid request will be broken down to the building structure, the cost of fluoride equipment and the cost of the site work, “so we can analyze the cost in case there are any questions by the grant people as to the cost. We’ve had some questions in the past as to the cost; we estimated around $200 per square foot, and it’s a small building, which means costs per square foot are generally higher.”
Each of the two water treatment plants will have its own fluoride facility because of the way the transmission lines are configured, he said.
Hammond presented the update of the CBWD master plan created in 2008 to project needs and improvements over the next 20 years.
With the current capacity to generate 18 million gallons per day, the plan looks at what would need to happen to increase capacity to a maximum of 20 mgd. Major factors include increasing pumping capacity, storage and booster ability and running a parallel transmission line.
This line would fall into Phase I of the project. It would run a parallel 36-inch pipeline from the treatment plant to the east metering station in Eureka Springs, for 38,000 linear feet, and a 42-inch Kings River crossing line of 1,520 lf. This phase also includes installing a high-service pump at the west side plant.
Hammond estimated Phase I would cost around $17.1 million, which includes engineering and contigencies.
Phase II, from 2018 to 2023, would extend two more 36-inch parallel waterlines to 16,000 lf and 7,600 lf. It is estimated to cost $9.4 million.
In Phase III, from 2023 to 2033, two more parallel lines of 14,000 lf and 11,000 lf would be constructed, at a total estimated cost of $16.4 million.
The district could take out new bonds or refinance existing bonds, Hammond said.
“The next step would be to solicit proposals for bond underwriters if you wanted to go the municipal bond route,” he said, adding that bond counsel is needed, and MWY needs to provide an engineering contract.
He urged CBWD to move forward because of market flexibility, even though bond interest rates have come down recently.
“We have no idea what rates will be a month from now, much less a year from now,” he said. “The volatility in the market hastens the need to begin the improvements.” …
*Original article online at http://www.carrollconews.com/story/2019586.html
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