Utilities committee approves up to $35,000 contract with Duke's Root Control for sanitary sewer root treatment

The Appleton City Utilities Committee voted Aug. 12 to award contract 25-0937 to Duke's Root Control Inc. in an amount not to exceed $35,000 to provide root-control services for the city's sanitary sewer system.

Committee members approved the award by voice vote after staff explained the recommendation. Deputy Director Neuberger told the committee the city received only one bid and that the recommended award is lower than the single bid price because staff combined the original $25,000 budget with $10,000 from stormwater maintenance funds to address higher-than-expected unit prices while preserving funds for a separate spot-repair program. "The way that the bid was set up, it allows us to do as much or as little in terms of the bid quantities as we can afford to do," Neuberger said. "So the award recommendation kind of, it acknowledges that the original budget was 25,000 and it makes use of $10,000 in the stormwater maintenance funds for a spot repair project that has not been bid out yet."

Neuberger said the single bid came in for roughly $41,000, and staff did not recommend increasing the award to that full amount so as not to reduce available funds for the spot-repair program. "We didn't go all the way up to the 41,000 in the bid because we didn't wanna give up too much in the spot repair program," Neuberger said.

Committee members asked how staff will prioritize which sewer segments are addressed under the contract. A project engineer present at a separate meeting earlier in the day, and referenced during the committee discussion, said prioritization would be based on "priority of need" and that staff generally try to complete larger contiguous segments rather than splitting a segment and returning in a later cycle.

The committee also asked for clarification on the treatment itself. Neuberger explained the root-control process in general terms but did not provide the product name: "I can't think of the name of the chemical right now, but basically it kills off roots that have penetrated into the sewers ... it kills off that root, make it brittle so that it can easily be mechanically removed and it also, retards future growth." That explanation was given as context for why the work is performed and how it interacts with mechanical removal efforts.

The motion to award contract 25-0937 was approved by voice vote; committee members indicated support and no opposition or abstentions were noted on the record. Staff will proceed with awarding the contract to Duke's Root Control Inc. and schedule work according to the project-engineer prioritization plan.

The action ties into routine sanitary-sewer maintenance and the city's spot-repair program; staff said they will continue evaluating the maintenance program's bidding frequency to seek better pricing and efficiency.