At a special meeting Wednesday evening at City Hall, the council approved a change order totaling $30,299.79 to repair a redundant water line at the city’s water treatment plant and install a gate valve to allow crews to bypass the plant’s 16-inch main during construction.

Jared of Moore Engineering told the council the bypass line tested during preconstruction “leaked and broke,” and cannot be used until repaired. “The plan was to kinda use that redundant line during construction,” Jared said, and the quoted work would cover roughly 40 feet of new water main, a new gate valve and connections to the edge of the plant.

The presiding officer called for a motion to approve Change Order No. 1 in the amount of $30,299.79; the motion was made and seconded (mover and seconder not specified in the record). On a roll call the presiding officer recorded affirmative votes from Cerney, Breichert, Jensen, Kemnet and Mound and announced the motion carried.

Jared said the overall water treatment plant is a $3,400,000 project and that about $270,000 had been set aside in project contingencies. He stated the change order will be paid from those contingency funds. “We did include about $270,000 in project contingencies, in the project financing,” Jared said, adding that contingencies exist to cover unanticipated costs that arise during construction.

Council members asked whether the secondary line would be used only as a temporary bypass or as a regular feed; one participant noted the line is not used now but, if repaired, would be put into regular use. Jared and other participants explained the bypass is needed so crews can cut into the 16-inch main while maintaining water service to town during construction.

The meeting adjourned after no further business was raised. The transcript shows variant spellings of some council members’ names between the initial roll call and the later votes; the article reproduces names as they appear in the meeting record.