The city of Marthasville has awarded more than $1.6 million in contracts to three companies who will build a new well and water tank capable of serving the entire town for decades to come.

The board of aldermen awarded the contracts on March 16, moving closer to construction of facilities that city leaders say will improve both capacity and water pressure in the system. The new well and tank will be located on elevated ground north of Hiawatha Street.

The board voted unanimously to award contracts for well drilling, well house construction, and tank construction:
• Flynn Drilling was awarded the well drilling contract for about $362,000;
• KJ Unnerstall Construction received the contract to build a well house and associated electrical systems for about $709,000;
• Pittsburg Tank & Tower Group was chosen to build a 300,000-gallon ground storage tank with a bid of about $574,000.

For the tank construction, the city had also asked potential contractors to submit alternate bids for a 400,000-gallon tank. Ryan Johanning with Cochran Engineering said the upgrade would have cost $120,000 more, but is relatively unnecessary with Marthasville’s current growth rate.

“You’d have to build 10 new homes per year for the next 120 years” to reach a daily usage of 300,000 gallons, Johanning commented. “The difference between the 300,000 and 400,000 tank was about $120,000. That $120,000 could go toward additional water main projects that (Marthasville) has coming up in the future.”

Johanning added that the city’s new well site includes open space that has been reserved for an additional storage tank, if one is ever needed in the future. In fact, plumbing for a second tank will be pre-installed as part of the upcoming construction.

On the same night the bids were awarded, aldermen also approved a $54,000 contract with Cochran Engineering to act as project administrator for the construction, as well as $24,000 for additional paving by KJ Unnerstall. Combined with the previous cost of about $215,000 for site grading and engineer oversight that’s already underway, the total construction cost so far is about $1.9 million.

With the project costs now nailed down with contracts, aldermen also began discussing financing options to pay for the construction. Along with the well and tank construction, the city also has several other water main improvements planned, bringing the total cost of all projects up to about $2.2 million, said Alderman Nick Lange.

Mayor David Lange said Marthasville has a $744,000 cash reserve in its dedicated water fund, and proposed spending $500,000 toward the improvements. That would leave a little over $1.8 million that the city needs to borrow for construction, plus some additional fees associated with borrowing.

That borrowing would be paid back using the $80,000 to $90,000 per year generated by a dedicated sales tax that feeds the water fund.

After some discussion, aldermen agreed to seek financing with a 15-year repayment period for the water system improvements. A contract with a specific lender will have to be approved at a future public meeting.