The Youngsville City Council voted to award a contract for a redesigned wastewater treatment plant upgrade to NCMC for $14,297,000 after the city secured additional state grant funding. Susan Reichardt, a city staff member who presented the bid results, said the low bid exceeded the city’s estimate, but additional grant money made the project fundable.

The vote followed discussion of the rebid: “On July 23, we received 2 bids. The low bid being from NCMC for $14,297,000. Our estimate was about $11,500,000,” Reichardt said. She told the council the city had requested $2,750,000 from the Water Sector Commission and was successful.

Why it matters: the redesigned, pared-down project will replace the prior, much higher-cost design and provide increased treatment capacity for the next decade. Council members framed the funding package — competitive grants plus a low-interest loan — as the reason construction can proceed now.

Details: Reichardt said the city redesigned the project and rebid; the previous bid had been over $23 million. The revised design dropped from four sequencing batch reactor basins to two and retained the existing oxidation pond, cutting capacity only slightly (about 0.5 million gallons per day) while extending the planning horizon to roughly 10 years. Reichardt told council the city also planned space to add two more basins in the future if needed.

Funding: Mayor and staff described the funding as a combination of a competitively awarded $5,000,000 grant, an additional $2,750,000 from the Water Sector Commission (bringing total grant support to $7.75 million), and a DEQ line of credit at 0.95% interest for the remainder. The mayor said that package “is what’s enabling the construction of this project.”

Council action: A motion to award the contract was made by Councilmember Nylund and seconded by Councilmember Romero. The roll call vote was recorded as yes by the councilmembers present and the motion passed.

What’s next: With funding confirmed and the contract awarded, staff will proceed with the construction phase under the awarded contract; council members discussed monitoring opportunities for future capacity expansion as the city grows.