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Council hears first reading for major Bayview plant design program, seeks program manager and low‑interest loan
Summary
Doug Stevens, director of the Department of Public Utilities, asked council to approve legislation to accept and appropriate loan funds from the Ohio EPA/Ohio Water Development Authority to begin design and program management work at the Bayview Water Reclamation Plant.
Doug Stevens, director of the Department of Public Utilities, asked Toledo City Council on March 11 to approve legislation to accept and appropriate loan funds from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency through the Ohio Water Development Authority to begin design and program management work for upgrades at the Bayview Water Reclamation Plant.
Stevens said the ordinance would allow the city to award contracts for a program manager and primary design services and that the administration seeks up to $51,000,000 in appropriations with a sanitary loan request of $50,000,000 from the WPCLF. He said the loan program has low interest and fees and that interest payments would not begin until after construction and closeout. Stevens said the first tier of improvements focuses on the plant's solids process, including dewatering, gravity thickeners, digesters and gas systems, and described the Tier 1 capital need at about $252,000,000.
The request would fund the prime design contract and program management work and leave room for open-bid subcontracts that would make up roughly 15% of design work, Stevens said. He also told council the administration plans to coordinate with purchasing and the office of DEI to maximize local vendor opportunities during contracting.
Councilman John Martinez said the proposal represents "a very large contract" and urged a series of meetings and an advocate from council to monitor cost containment and the administration's plans. Martinez and Stevens both described the request as an initial, first-step ordinance; council agreed to take it up as a first reading and to schedule additional briefings and follow-up meetings.
Stevens proposed a timeline that would put a program manager under contract in the next two months, produce a detailed schedule by late second or early third quarter and begin design improvements by mid third quarter into late fourth quarter of the year.
The item as presented is a first-reading request; no final appropriations vote appears on the transcript. Councilmembers indicated they would proceed with further hearings and oversight as the project advances.
The Bayview work would be carried out across multiple phases and depends on future contract awards and formal appropriation action by the council.
