More than a week after opening bids on sewer pretreatment improvements, the Warren County Commission has yet to take action and award a contract. Engineers for both the city of Warrenton and the county are scheduled to meet with representatives from Heggemann Inc., on Thursday morning, Dec. 1, to review design plans for a voluntary alternate offered for the pretreatment project. Depending on the outcome, the commission should learn whether it needs to proceed with the design plan that had been agreed upon by both the county and city in October or wait for further approval from Warrenton aldermen on a new design. That decision likely won't be made until their next board meeting on Dec. 6. The project is being required by the city of Warrenton to prevent garbage, clothes and other items from being stuffed down toilets by inmates inside the county jail and then entering the city's sewer main. Heggemann submitted the low bid of $55,353 for installing a bar screen system to catch items before they enter the city's sewer system. The items would then be removed by a county maintenance employee. The project has been designed to allow for a grinder to be installed in the future. Three other bids ranging from $57,116 to $118,600 were also submitted. Presiding Commissioner Arden Engelage said an alternate design proposed by Heggemann could save the county $20,000 to $25,000. The dispute between the city and county has been ongoing since February when city workers discovered a jail jumpsuit and other garbage that had clogged the city's sewer main. Until the pretreatment improvements are complete, the county commission will continue to be billed for daily sewer cleanouts performed by the city. The commission also is continuing to challenge the cleanout fee that is being assessed by the city and did not pay its entire October sewer bill in protest. If a portion of the bill remains unpaid by Dec. 28, water and sewer service to the courthouse facility will be disconnected The extra fee on the county's October bill covered 19 sewer cleanouts totaling $2,382.41 between Sept. 15 through Oct. 11, according to city officials. The city began charging the county Oct. 13 for each cleanout, which had been performed twice each weekday and once a day on the weekends. Last week, the city agreed to reduce the number of cleanouts on weekdays to one a day. Each time a cleanout is performed, the city charges the county $100 for use of its vaccum truck. The city also is billing the county for the time spent by one or two city employees on the cleanout. City staff has said clothes and food wrappers are being removed on a daily basis. The county commission received a letter on Tuesday officially notifying them that the county's utility account is considered delinquent. The letter informed commissioners about the city's procedures in handling delinquent accounts, including that customers can contest and address an impending disconnection by appearing at the Dec. 20 board of aldermen meeting Should the city disconnect the sewer service to the courthouse facility, the entire balance of the county's utility account, along with any additional service fees and any required deposits, must be paid prior to reconnection. Commissioners have yet to state if they will pay the unpaid portion by the shut-off deadline. The city requested the sewer pretreatment improvements since every manhole overflow must be reported as a violation to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. City officials are worried that similar incidents could cause damage to the sewer system. Under city codes, it's unlawful for any type of garbage to be discharged into the city's sewer system.