The Board of Aldermen on July 21 approved a resolution to hire engineering firm Bartlett West to design and manage a project to replace aging, undersized water mains that staff said are constraining fire flow and new development. The firm’s contract sets a 90‑day design target and estimates a 4–6 month construction period once contractors are selected.

Why it matters: City staff said the present 4‑inch main creates a distribution bottleneck that has already threatened a prospective business expansion; upgrading to a 12‑inch main is intended to improve water distribution and fire flow, and to keep the city from having to limit new building permits.

City staff member Don Shepherd introduced the contract and said Bartlett West would act as project manager and engineer for the work; Bartlett West representatives attended the meeting. Jim Ross of Bartlett West said the contract calls for the design to be completed in 90 days and estimated that construction would be “probably a 4 to 6 month construction project depending on the contractor and weather.” Ross said the project includes rebore and casing work beneath Highway 71 to accommodate the larger pipe and that the new pipe will be 12‑inch PVC.

Those engineering choices carry cost and schedule implications: replacing a corroded cast‑iron line with 12‑inch PVC and enlarging the bore under the highway are technically complex and “not a cheap process,” Ross said. The board and staff discussed that the project was identified as project No. 1 in Bartlett West’s system‑wide prioritization and that the city has related wastewater work already underway.

Board members asked operational questions about storage capacity and system readiness. Bartlett West and staff said the city’s overall storage remains adequate for current demand; however, staff and the consultant warned that long‑term growth could require additional storage on the west side. Staff said without completing distribution upgrades the city might have to consider a building moratorium if growth outpaces distribution capacity.

Outcome and next steps: The board adopted the resolution to proceed with Bartlett West as project engineer. Staff said the project is expected to go out to competitive bid for contractors after design is complete, and that additional projects identified in Bartlett West’s assessment will be presented to the board for funding decisions as priorities and budgets are set.