The Lamarque City Council on Jan. 12 approved awarding the construction contract for citywide lift‑station upgrades (package 2) after staff and the engineer recommended selecting Matula Construction. Council members said the lowest bidder was not qualified for the required scope and the second‑lowest, Matula, was recommended to ensure project performance.

Brent, a public‑works staff speaker, told the council the Delaney Lift Station (identified in the project documents as Lift Station No. 17) had been rehabilitated because it was in "dire need of care" — work included painting, wet‑well rehabilitation, new fencing with privacy slats, driveway repairs and addition of a backup pump. Brent said the base bid on that lift‑station portion was approximately $924,000 but that the project had multiple change orders across three major lift stations and staff would assemble a consolidated accounting.

Council members asked staff to provide exact addresses for the lift stations and a full list of contractors and subcontractors involved in the overall wastewater program. Several speakers noted the larger funding context: staff referenced a GLO/HUD grant package with a total project figure cited in the meeting of about $49,394,004 and described allocations of roughly $33 million for the wastewater treatment plant and about $6–7 million for lift stations, though council asked staff to confirm and provide supporting documentation and change‑order totals.

Brent summarized procurement rationale: "We went with the second low bidder because the first low bidder did not have any qualifications for this type of work," putting the decision on record. Councilmembers emphasized they want change‑order detail and clearer project accounting because some CO funding has been used repeatedly across projects and project budgets have shifted during prior administrations.

Staff committed to email the full bid package, the change‑order logs and the contractor/subcontractor lists to council prior to the next meeting. Council also directed staff to make the lift‑station location information publicly available when the agenda packet is disseminated.