Tonganoxie council authorizes bid advertisement for $5 million wastewater expansion

The Tonganoxie City Council on Aug. 4 authorized city staff to advertise for bids on the city's 2025 wastewater treatment facility improvements project, a capacity-expansion effort that the city plans to fund in part with a $5,000,000 loan from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The authorization was a motion by Councilmember Donnelly, seconded by Councilmember Partridge, and carried by voice vote. City staff told the council the project, advanced in 2022 and designed under a January 2023 contract with BG Consultants, is intended to double the facility's capacity to meet growth and updated permitting requirements. Brian Kingsley, the city's on-call engineering consultant with BG Consultants, said the city executed the KDHE loan agreement in June 2025 and that KDHE staff are conducting a final review of bid documents. Kingsley said KDHE's review could produce clarifications that the city would issue as addenda to the advertised bid package but that the firm does not expect major design changes. "From a high-level review, they've already reviewed the design, and we don't expect significant changes with the actual project itself," Kingsley said. City staff said the advertisement will run in the newspaper and on the plan-room website on Wednesday, with bids to be accepted through Sept. 9, 2025, and a planned council award on Sept. 15, 2025. Staff also noted that BG Consultants and KDHE may exchange edits to the bid package between now and the bid deadline; any resulting changes would be issued as formal addenda. Councilmember Partridge asked about where contractors would access the plans; Kingsley and staff said the city is using a plan-room service, Drexel Technologies, so contractors receive automatic notifications when plans are posted. Kingsley said he expects the city will keep the project timeline updated "in real time" and present schedule adjustments to the council as they occur. The council did not set construction contract award contingencies in the motion beyond the usual review and award process. Less critical details: the project design and construction services agreement with BG Consultants was approved in January 2023, and the city previously used American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and utility funds during project development, the agenda packet stated. KDHE staff referred to needed funding-related conditions and a letter of conditions during their review; staff said those items informed the most recent submission of final bid documents.