City staff favor United Systems bid for Creek Road sewer lining; resolution seeks $6,000 contingency

City utility staff presented two contractor proposals for the Creek Road sewer lining work and told the Utility Committee they recommend proceeding with United Systems because its $69,000 proposal covers bypass pumping, sewer lining and traffic maintenance.

"The proposal from United ... came in at $69,000, and that is for everything. That is for the bypass pumping, the sewer lining, and traffic maintenance," a city utility staff member said. By contrast, the alternate proposal from Bijou Sewer (listed on committee materials) included only sewer lining and bypass pumping; it did not include traffic control, which would have been the city's responsibility.

Because Bijou's bid omitted traffic control, staff said the effective comparative cost would be higher once the city supplied those services. "With those numbers, I think it's pretty easy to figure out why we decided to go with United," the staff member told the committee.

The staff member also said a supplemental resolution requesting an additional $6,000 as a contingency for unforeseen conditions is on the council agenda for third reading and that they have prepared a resolution for council consideration. Committee discussion focused on bid scope differences and budget forecasting; staff confirmed the requested contingency is intended to cover possible unknown conditions encountered during work.

No formal contract award was made by the Utility Committee during the meeting; staff characterized the recommendation as the committee's preferred choice and indicated the supplemental contingency will be considered by the full council under the posted resolution.

The committee packet includes the two bids and highlighted line items identifying which services are included or excluded in each proposal.