Sewer work near

The Jay County Regional Sewer District signed letters of intent to award bids for its three sewer projects with the expectation that construction should begin in about 90 days.
Commonweath Engineers’ Ben Adams reviewed bids received for the three projects, which were opened Friday morning, and brought his three recommendations. Adams selected each of the lowest bidders on the respective projects.
For the Foxfire Drive project southwest of Portland, Adams recommended Tumbusch Construction, Saint Henry, Ohio, at a cost of $365,276.23. That bid came in $84,723.77 below the engineer’s estimate of $450,000.
On the Skeens addition project north of Dunkirk, Adams recommended CSU Inc., Plainfield, at a cost of $258,661.25 — or $76,338.75 below the engineer’s estimate of $335,000.
And for the Willow Drive project south of Dunkirk, Adams recommended Watson Excavating, Inc., Redkey, at a cost of $124,535 — $45,465 below the estimate of $170,000.
“That’s an example of the extremely soft construction market,” Adams said of the bids. “All very favorable numbers, all within our budget.”
The board approved issuing tentative letters of intent to award, contingent on the board finalizing funding with the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development, which is providing a loan and grant package for the projects.
Adams said he will also forward the bid numbers to district financial consultant H.J. Umbaugh and Associates, which will analyze the numbers and develop a rate ordinance for the district.
The board is still in negotiations with the cities of Portland and Dunkirk to establish a sewage treatment agreement, since those municipalities will be accepting and treating the waste.
Adams attended the Dunkirk City Council meeting following the sewer district’s meeting Monday and presented the city council with a finalized copy of the district’s proposed agreement. The council took the document under advisement. Negotiations with Portland are still ongoing.
Construction is expected to begin on the three projects in about 90 days and will be completed during the winter months.
Adams said each of the contractors said the projects can be finished within 120 days of the issuance to proceed from the district board.
Adams also told the board he spoke with county engineer Dan Watson, who suggested that while the sewer line is being installed in the Foxfire Drive area, that the line be extended to connect Meshberger Brothers and a former plastics plant which has been targeted as a site for future economic development.
“I always tend to say the more the merrier on these sewer projects,” Adams said.
The additional trenching and materials would be covered out of the grant portion of the district funding package. The funding system works in a way that the district must spend the $690,250 loan portion of its $1.255 million award from the USDA before it is able to spend any of the grant dollars. Adams said he believes the grant money is a “use it or lose it” situation.
Adams said since the additional construction would fall in the grant portion, the cost to all other users for debt repayment would decrease slightly with the additional property owners paying in.
The board gave approval to Adams to engineer the addition and run it past Rural Development to get it added onto the project.[[In-content Ad]]