City staff outlines schedule, costs and procurement process for water-tower rehabilitation and painting

City staff briefed the Planning & Infrastructure GIS Committee on the status of multiple elevated-tank rehabilitation projects and the procurement steps taken for painting and artist selection.

Brandon Snead, a city staff member, said the department is scheduling rehabilitation of the West Shreveport tank to go offline in October as part of a multi-year plan to rehabilitate other tanks. "We're tentatively starting for October," Snead said. He said the department expects to move next to the Saint Vincent tank after West Shreveport and that, "if things go as planned... in the next year and a half, 2 years or less, we should have them all completed." Staff also reported work wrapping up at the port tank and upgrades to piping, valves and a new logo.

Snead said contractor selection for the painting contract followed the city's construction bidding process. He said the lowest responsive bidder, Dixie Painting, met bid specifications and was awarded the contract after purchasing-division procedures. He said there were two bidders who met qualifications and Dixie Painting was the lowest. The committee's discussion clarified that the contractor award was not the product of a single internal committee but came from the standard construction bid process administered by purchasing.

Separately, the city described an artist-selection process run in coordination with the Shreveport Regional Arts Council (SHRAC). Staff said SHRAC ran a blind contest limited to applicants from Shreveport; a review panel narrowed submissions and met with finalists. A panel that reviewed artwork entries included people identified in the meeting as William Daniel, Brandon Snead, Rebecca Bonavier, Pam Acheson, Bridal Dunn, Chris Erickson and a council member's spouse. That panel selected the design finalists; staff emphasized the artist-selection panel was distinct from the contractor award for painting the tanks.

Snead discussed a carbon-silo upgrade tied to taste-and-odor control after an algae bloom. He said replacing the silo outright would have cost roughly $750,000 but that the city contracted to refurbish internal feed equipment instead at an estimated cost of about $250,000, with work starting in October and a temporary feed system to be provided to avoid interrupting operations.

Staff also said a SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system upgrade is underway. No formal action or vote on procurement or contract awards occurred during the committee session; staff said they would resend bid documentation to council members who said they had not received it.