Plans readied for sanitary sewer rehabilitation project

The Clear Lake City Council reviewed preliminary plans and received an estimate of cost and work schedule for its 2015 Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation Project Monday.

Jason Petersburg, of Veenstra & Kimm, told the Council the project, which will occur in seven stretches of sanitary and storm sewer lines stretching over 5,000-feet in the community, is expected to come in within the $300,000 the city budgeted for the work.  He estimated the project cost as $298,025.  

The project will be placed on the Council’s Jan. 19 agenda to set the date for a public hearing on the plans and specifications, form of contract and estimate of cost.  Bid letting is anticipated Feb. 11 and a contract could be awarded Feb. 16.  

Petersburg said construction will occur between April 6 and June 26, 2015.  The project will require about seven weeks of actual construction, he said.  However, lining contractors currently have a five to six-month backlog of jobs, so the construction timeline must be extended to provide adequate time for lining contractors to schedule the work, which should result in more favorable bids, he said.

City staff have already done some preliminary work for the project, which will also appeal to contractors, he added.  

The project will also allow numerous abandoned services to be sealed off.

Mayor Nelson Crabb noted a recent story in the Des Moines Register revealed some smaller communities in the state have considered disincorporating to avoid sometimes state-mandated upgrades in their sewage systems.   

Crabb called Clear Lake’s sanitary sewer rehabilitation project a “great protective piece that we have in place.”