The Warrenton Board of Aldermen awarded just under $4 million in contracts for the construction of a new well at its June 3 meeting.
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The Warrenton Board of Aldermen awarded just under $4 million in contracts for the construction of a new well at its June 3 meeting.
Well No. 10 will be built near the aquatic center and Public Works Director Guy Gevers said he expects work to begin some time in July.
The bids were awarded to four separate contractors, each handling a different component of the construction.
The first contract, for the construction of the well house and other site components was awarded to Heggemann Inc. for just under $1.7 million.
The second was for the water storage tank for the well, which was awarded to Caldwell Tanks for roughly $957,000. The construction of the water main for the well, the smallest of the four contracts, was awarded to Keeley Construction Group for just under $300,000.
The last contract, to dig the well, was awarded to Flynn Drilling Co. for roughly $850,000.
The recommendations were issued by Gonzalez Companies, who the city has retained for professional services on the project.
In order to fund the project, Gevers requested the city reallocate roughly $500,000 in funds from a project that would have improved a water main near Isaac Drive and Kent Court to the new well project.
Gevers said the well project was over budget and at this time, the construction of the well was more important than the improvements to the water main.
“The well is more crucial than that project,” said Gevers.
He said since they were reallocating the funds, they would not be able to complete the improvements to the water main on schedule and may have to push them off to next year.
Alderman Christine Wait asked when they would be able to resume work on the water main, and Gevers responded saying he was unsure at this time.
He did clarify that some of the issues that were going to be solved by the water main improvements had already been mitigated by other projects.
Gevers said the line being put in at Isaac Drive would have created a loop in the city’s water system since the existing infrastructure only allowed water to flow one way into the area.
Since a new subdivision was constructed off of Route AA developers tied into the water system providing an additional avenue for the Walnut Hollow subdivision.
“Before, if we would have had a leak on AA, Walnut Hollow would have been down with water,” said Gevers. “Now since they tied it in from the new complex we’ve got another way to feed it in.”
He continued saying the purpose of the water main expansion was to provide an additional avenue to pump water into the subdivision in case of leaks, but clarified that with the existing contingencies, the importance of a new well outweighed the water main improvements.
Gevers said an alternate contract was selected with Keeley Construction to construct a 12-inch water main to tie the well into the city’s existing infrastructure at Highway 47.
The original bid from Keeley was for an eight inch pipe that would connect to the existing 12-inch main on Highway 47. Alderman Roger Romaker asked why that bid was not considered.
Gevers said the smaller pipe would cause water pressure issues in the subdivisions off of Warrior Avenue and would create the potential for leaks.
“So the 12-inch is pretty much the only way to go,” said Romaker.
Gevers said that improvement, once completed, will allow the city to temporarily empty the Warrior Avenue water tower so it can be repainted.
Mayor Eric Schlueter clarified that the tower needs to be emptied in order to repaint it as the city has had issues with repainting towers while full in the past.
In total, five ordinances were approved in relation to the project, one to reallocate the funds from the Isaac Drive water main improvements, and four for the respective bids. All five measures were approved unanimously.