The city of Marthasville in March approved a bid of just under $56,000 for a company to deconstruct and remove two 50,000-gallon water towers that are now obsolete, with the option to remove a third water storage system as well.

A newly constructed well and 300,000-gallon storage tank were brought online earlier this year and have had any initial operating issues addressed, Mayor David Lange said during a March 15 public meeting. That system on its own provides double the water capacity and higher water pressure than all the water towers combined. 

With the new system put through its paces, city leaders now want to end the expense of maintaining the old towers, meaning they have to be removed. The Marthasville Board of Aldermen voted 3-0 March 15, with Alderman Nick Lange absent, to hire Iseler Demolition out of Michigan to deconstruct the water towers.

Iseler submitted a cost of $55,800 to remove the water towers outside Marthasville City Hall on Main Street and at the site of the old Marthasville hat factory on Two Street. That was the low bid out of four contractors who submitted bids for the project.

“That kind of surprised me. I didn’t think out-of-state guys would be as competitive. It takes a lot more to mobilize — more fuel, more time,” noted Mayor David Lange.

The other bidders on the project were:

• General Construction Services, at a cost of $70,000.
• Marschel Wrecking, at a cost of about $92,000.
• 06 Environmental, at a cost of $220,500.

Lange commented that the city had conservatively budgeted a demolition cost of $50,000 per tower, so getting a low bid that is close to half that price was a pleasant surprise.

Aldermen also chose to award an additional $25,100 project for Iseler Demolition to take down a third water tank, the 100-foot-tall standpipe at the east end of town. This is considered a separate project because Marthasville doesn’t currently have permission from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to remove the standpipe.

Ryan Johanning with Cochran Engineering, the city’s engineer service for water and sewer projects, explained that there’s a strong possibility Iseler’s demolition crew will have to make a second, completely separate trip to Marthasville, depending on when that permission from DNR comes through.

Factoring in the cost of the standpipe demolition, Iseler was still the low bidder compared to the other companies bidding on the demo projects. The total cost for both stages of demolition is $80,900.

Johanning said he didn’t yet have an estimate for when the demolition work would begin, but that July or August is likely the earliest start date.