Selectmen award $825,000 CSO Phase 3 contract to Ranger Construction after negotiations

Skowhegan Selectmen voted to award the CSO Phase 3.6.0.2 contract to Ranger Construction Co., with an authorized amount not to exceed $825,000 from the Phase 3 CSO bond.

Brent Dickey recommended awarding the contract to Ranger and the board approved the recommendation. Staff explained the item had been put out to bid multiple times; the last unsolicited bid the town received was roughly $1.4 million, which exceeded the available remaining bond funds. With the help of town staff and the contractor (Ranger), the town negotiated scope reductions and trimmed items that lowered the contractor’s final price to the awarded amount. Because the project must be completed within the bond’s remaining funds, staff said the work was scaled back and some deferred elements were removed from this phase.

What the project is: CSO stands for combined-sewer overflows. During heavy rainfall and snowmelt, excess flow can overflow relief points in the sewer system and discharge into the river. The Phase 3 effort has been a multi-year program funded by an $11,880,000 bond. Participants said the state had initially allowed a long completion window (32 years) but town leaders previously negotiated to compress the schedule to seven years to limit inflationary costs.

Motion and vote: The board moved and approved awarding the Phase 3.6.0.2 contract to Ranger Construction not to exceed $825,000 (funding source: CSO Phase 3 bond). The transcript records the board approved the recommendation; exact roll-call was not recorded.

Why it matters: The project reduces the town’s combined sewer overflows to the Kennebec/Back River and is part of a multi‑year capital infrastructure effort that substantially lowers the volume of untreated discharges in heavy-flow events.

What’s next: Staff will oversee the scaled work and report back to the board as the phase progresses.