Council approves Lift Station No. 25 rehabilitation and construction administration contracts

Jacksonville Beach's City Council unanimously approved contracts Sept. 2 to rehabilitate Lift Station No. 25 and to provide construction administration services. Dennis Perrin, public works director, told the council the city has 38 lift stations and intends to rebuild them on a 20-year cycle, which requires averaging roughly two major rehabs per year. He described the approved Lift Station No. 25 job as a smaller station rehabilitation focused on internal components such as pumps and electrical systems. Perrin said the city's wastewater master plan ranked lift stations and guided the schedule; doing one major and one minor rehab each year was intended to keep the city on track and to address higher-priority and higher-cost stations first. The council awarded the construction contract to PBM Constructors, Inc. for an amount not to exceed $418,255. The council subsequently approved an agreement with Alliant Engineering for construction-administration services not to exceed $16,390 and authorized the mayor and city manager to execute contracts. Council members asked whether adding a second rehab this season would leave the city vulnerable to failures; Perrin said the utility maintains funding and that staff always design annually so the city can pull ahead in the schedule if an emergency arises. The actions were approved by unanimous roll-call votes.