Evansville Water & Sewer board approves contracts, opens bids for water and sewer projects

The Evansville Water and Sewer Utility Board on Sept. 17 approved several contract awards and engineering agreements, opened bids on two construction projects and authorized staff to review bids and return with recommendations.

The board voted to award a $112,295 contract to Cobestine Contracting Inc. for the US 41 DES 2000987 waterline relocation project (project U1236), a recommendation presented by Jennifer Kane. Jennifer said staff received four bids at the Sept. 3 meeting, reviewed them with the designer Clark Dietz, and found all required documents in compliance. "The collective MBEWBE participation was 2.23%," she said. The award was approved by voice vote.

The board opened bids for the East Mill and Weaver Road 8-inch water main replacement (project U1191). "This project's located on the North Side and will install approximately 3,000 linear feet of 8 inch water main, and we'll entertain the bids," Jennifer said. Bids announced at the meeting included Dijk Brothers ($1,445,542), Blankenburger Brothers ($1,078,450), Infrastructure Systems Inc. ($1,205,945), Sam Trucking & Excavating Inc. ($1,159,656) and a final transcribed entry shown as "2013" for $1,288,990; the board voted to take the bids under advisement for review by the designer (Crawford, Murphy & Tilly), city compliance and purchasing.

The board also opened a single bid for the 2024 annual sewer lining, Frederick Neighborhood Phase I (project U1246). Inliner Solutions LLC submitted a base bid of $1,635,916.50 with four alternates (Alternate 1: $115,471; Alt 2: $106,032; Alt 3: $133,300; Alt 4: $110,874). The board took the bid under advisement to return later with an order of recommendation.

Board members approved Amendment No. 3 to 3I Engineering for the Pomfret Grove neighborhood water-main replacement (project U1195). Brian, presenting the amendment, said the scope will move the project into design and replace roughly 4,700 linear feet of existing main primarily with 8-inch PPC pipe. He said the $166,307 amendment "represents around a 9% fee of the total estimated construction cost of $1,890,000" and recommended approval. The motion passed by voice vote.

Separately, the board approved two agreements related to a discovered conflict on the Lloyd Expressway project (R44898). Brian described a design and construction conflict found near the Boy Scouts entrance during active construction. The board approved a reimbursable preliminary engineering agreement (design estimate of $9,500) to be performed by the project designer and a highway-utility work-by-state-contractor agreement that will allow the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) to perform the relocation in its contract. Brian said INDOT "is bearing 100% of that cost, so we don't have any exchange of any money that we have to define for it," and that the relocation will move about 245 linear feet of 12-inch main at an estimated construction cost just under $160,000. The board approved both agreements by voice vote.

The board approved a $33,500 service agreement with Municipal H2O to prepare the risk and resiliency assessment and the emergency response plan required by the America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018. Corey Heath, operations manager at the water filtration plant, told the board: "The America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 requires all community water systems serving more than 3,300 people to develop a risk and resiliency assessment by 03/31/2025 and an emergency response plan by 09/30/2025." Corey said Municipal H2O will compile city data into the required reports; staff will provide deliverables on the schedule needed for the consultant to meet federal deadlines. The motion carried.

Votes at a glance • Consent agenda (minutes, payroll, accounts payable): approved (voice vote). • Take East Mill & Weaver Road bids (U1191) under advisement for review: approved (voice vote). • Take Frederick Neighborhood Phase I sewer lining bid (U1246) under advisement: approved (voice vote). • Award to Cobestine Contracting Inc., US 41 DES 2000987 (U1236) $112,295: approved (voice vote). • Amendment No. 3 to 3I Engineering, Pomfret Grove (U1195) $166,307: approved (voice vote). • Preliminary engineering agreement and INDOT highway utility work (R44898): approved (voice vote). • Municipal H2O agreement for AWIA compliance $33,500: approved (voice vote).

Next steps and context Staff will return at future meetings with design reviews and formal recommendations after the designer and purchasing complete their evaluations. The board set its next meeting for Oct. 1, 2024 at 3 p.m. at the Sunrise Pump Station.

(Reporting based on the Evansville Water and Sewer Utility Board meeting transcript of Sept. 17, 2024.)