Preston council asks contractor bids to extend sewer laterals, discusses plant costs and monitoring upgrades

Preston — The Preston City Council voted to request bids to extend sewer service laterals as part of the ongoing wastewater treatment plant upgrade and directed staff to seek two kinds of cost estimates: (1) the cost to extend laterals from the new mainline to the back of curb and (2) a per-linear-foot estimate to replace private property laterals to the house.

The request for bids came after engineers told the council that roughly 50–60 homes on the planned replacement mile have laterals in poor condition. Council members and staff discussed three standard approaches: leave homeowners responsible from the house to the mainline, replace laterals to the back of curb, or replace laterals all the way to the house. Contractors would need to change scope if the city opted to replace private-property laterals.

The decision to ask RSCI (the plant contractor) for preliminary bids was made as an information step only; the council emphasized no construction will be approved until final costs and funding are reviewed. Kolter Hollingshead of Keller Engineering explained the bids would likely be priced per linear…