Marion Water Department outlines near-term projects, elevated-tower bids and lead service-line work

The Marion Water Department on April 1 briefed the City Council on a larger-than-normal fiscal year budget driven by construction of a new elevated water tower, ongoing mains work, and a small draw from cash reserves to balance the coming year.

Todd Steigerwald, general manager of the Marion Water Department, said the department increased its budget to about $9.3 million for the coming year — up from a typical range around $6–6.5 million — largely because of the planned tower on Lucore Road. "We increased it up to almost 9,300,000.0. We did have to pull 2,400,000.0 from our, cash reserves to balance our budget for the coming fiscal year," Steigerwald said.

Steigerwald said the department received multiple bids for the tower and split the project into two scopes. He said two qualified contractors emerged as the low bidders: Caldwell for a 2026 completion option and Gerard for a reduced 2027-cost alternative, with one low bid near $3.6 million compared with an engineer's estimate of about $5 million. He said staff visited tower projects built by the contractors to evaluate quality and timing and will ask the water board to award a contract at its next board meeting.

The department described other projects: water-main replacements tied to street reconstructions, a Grand Avenue bid award imminent, phase work funded in part by an ARPA allocation of roughly $600,000 for a prior project, and new equipment purchases (a pickup truck, skid steer and UTV) planned in the next fiscal year.

Steigerwald also discussed lead service-line work and compliance steps. The department has completed an inventory and identified roughly 57 lead service lines that require replacement over a multi-year program. "It is about a 10 to 13 year program to replace all of those," he said, adding Marion's mineralized water means it has not experienced lead-level problems but must comply with federal requirements and inventory replacements.

Steigerwald previewed a proposed minimum-bill rate increase of roughly 3% and said the city would hold a public hearing on June 10; he outlined the customer impact using the city's billing cycle: for a minimum two-month bill at 400 cubic feet or less, the increase would be approximately $0.21 per two-month cycle; for a higher average user (1,200 cubic feet) the change would be about $0.73 per two-month bill.

The water department also noted annual operations beginning April 14 (fire hydrant flushing), an upcoming consumer confidence report and completed work on a new storage building for equipment. Council discussion included questions about where the new tower will improve pressure and serve future growth; Steigerwald said the Lucore Road tower will raise pressure for east-side customers and support future northern expansion.

No council vote was taken on the tower or rates at the April 1 work session; staff will bring specific contract awards and rate hearings to appropriate meetings.