Council committee approves $23.7 million contract for Canyon Road water treatment overhaul

The Finance Committee on Sept. 8 approved a construction contract with Bradbury Stamm Construction for $23,673,913.31, including New Mexico gross receipts tax, to perform flocculation and sedimentation improvements at the city’s Canyon Road Water Treatment Plant. The contract covers construction services through Dec. 31, 2028. The vote funds upgrades to the early-stage processes in drinking-water treatment—chemical coagulation/flocculation and sedimentation basins—intended to reduce suspended solids and improve filtration performance. Staff said the project is the first half of the treatment process and will remove organic and suspended particles before water moves to filtration. Engineer Clinton Peterson told the committee the procurement ran twice: an ITB in August 2024 produced a single, high bid; a second solicitation in April 2025 produced three bids and Bradbury Stamm was the lowest responsive bidder and consistent with the engineer’s estimate. The contract includes a 10% allowance for unit-price and unanticipated items such as curb, gutter, excavation and concrete replacements; staff described 10% as an industry-standard contingency for construction projects. Councilors asked how the city would manage cost overruns and ensure contractor performance. Peterson said pay applications will be reviewed by the city and by the project’s design engineers (Carollo) and that construction management will be provided by on-call engineering; invoices and change orders will be reviewed before the city pays additional sums. Peterson also noted Bradbury Stamm has prior experience with water- and wastewater-treatment projects, including a digestor project in the city’s wastewater plant. Action and next steps: the committee approved the construction contract (roll-call vote; motion passed). Staff said construction will be overseen by the city’s construction management team and design engineer reviews of pay applications will gate payments for change orders and unit items. The contract allows the city to require documentation and to deny unsubstantiated overrun requests. The project schedule and specific milestone dates were discussed at a high level; staff did not provide a detailed construction schedule in the committee discussion but said oversight and pay-application reviews will occur throughout the project.