Claremore officials say $28 million water‑plant upgrade is on schedule after value engineering and loan adjustments
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Summary
City staff reported progress on a design‑build water treatment upgrade by Burns & McDonnell, funded through an FAP loan via OWRB. About $16 million of work is complete, payments total roughly $14.3 million to date, and officials said a contract amendment and value engineering reduced costs.
Claremore city staff on Feb. 3 told the City Council the city’s design‑build water treatment upgrade is progressing and remains on track for substantial completion in mid‑2026. The project, contracted with Burns & McDonnell and funded through an FAP loan via the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB), has an original contract amount of about $28,000,000 and a current completion target of Oct. 19, 2026.
City presenters said roughly $16,000,000 of work has been completed and the city has paid about $14,300,000 to date. Staff also said contract amendment number 1 was approved on Feb. 3, 2025, following a round of value engineering intended to bring the final cost closer to the loan amount. "We've done some value engineering," a city presenter said, adding that the amendment overall resulted in a net decrease from earlier higher estimates.
Officials described two primary goals for the upgrade: improved organic removal and increased manganese removal, including installation of green sand filtration as a redundant treatment component. Staff said the project also includes demolition, new below‑grade piping and chemical storage pads. One presenter noted a large decant reroute to a creek to avoid recycling manganese back to the lake.
Finance staff reported steps taken to reduce the program’s monthly debt service. According to a council presentation, finance staff negotiated capitalization of accrued interest and had recently reduced the monthly payment from about $135,000 to about $65,000; the presenter credited Susan Malloy in the finance department for securing those arrangements.
City staff said some owner allowances were drawn down (the original allowance was $434,000, about $350,000 used to date with roughly $83,000 remaining) and that additional authorization requests had been recorded for material purchases, unforeseen demolition and masonry/asbestos abatement tied to silo removal. The presenter said those costs are being handled within the design‑build contract structure and will be managed through the allowance process or formal change orders as needed.
Council members did not oppose moving forward. The presentation concluded with staff saying contractor safety and quality have been satisfactory and that the city is "well over halfway" through the contract.
The council listed no further action on the item at the meeting; the project remains in construction with periodic staff updates planned.
