The Laramie City Council voted Tuesday to award the bid for the Pope Wellhead Building Upgrades project to Arkon Inc. for a base amount of $1,517,127, plus a contingency of $106,198, and authorized the mayor and city clerk to sign the contract.

Councilor Heather Lockhart moved the award; Councilor Patrick Newman seconded the motion. Director Brooks Webb of the public works department described the Pope Well Field south of town as critical to the citys water supply and said the current fiberglass structures are old and that masonry buildings with security upgrades will be more resilient. The bid covers upgrades at wells 1 and 4 as the base bid; the bid alternates allow work at wells 2 and 3 and additional Turner site work if budgets permit.

The council also approved an amendment to the design professional services agreement with Engineering Associates to provide construction-phase services and on-site construction administration. The amendment passed on roll call by unanimous vote. The staff report gives a not-to-exceed amount for construction administration services; the packet figures provided to council contained a transcribed total that staff clarified during the meeting as construction management services and contingency for the oversight contract. The public works director said the design firm prepared plans and is best positioned to provide on-site contract administration during construction.

Both measures passed with broad support; the contract award and the related construction-administration amendment were approved in roll calls that returned eight yeses, zero nos and one absence.

Councilors said the upgrades respond to infrastructure needs documented in the 2015 water master plan and to subsequent homeland-security asset reviews that flagged the well field as critical infrastructure. Staff said the upgrades will also allow the future addition of cameras and alarms to protect the facilities. Work is expected to proceed under the oversight of the design firm and city staff; the award includes a standard contingency to cover contract change orders.

No members of the public offered comment for the item during the meeting.