Riverbank council approves limited value-engineering work on recycled-water plan amid resident outcry over sewer rates

Riverbank — The City Council voted to authorize a limited value‑engineering (VE) study for the Riverbank regional recycled‑water project, approving KSN with Ewing Construction Services to begin a VE effort designed to find lower‑cost construction options. The action, approved as "Option A," funds KSN/ECS work drawn from Sewer Fund 106 and continues a months‑long review of wastewater options.

Council members discussed timing and cost alongside a feasibility study already under way. Public works director Cody Bridgewater described KSN’s scope and said preliminary VE suggestions could save about $14.17 million, citing specific opportunities such as equipment preselection, elimination of a secondary clarifier and civil/site changes. "This VE study will identify cost savings ... and will be performed in close coordination with Brown and Caldwell," Bridgewater said during the presentation.

The council vote approved KSN/ECS’s VE scope without the optional third‑party probable‑cost estimate component; recorded roll call for that motion was 4 yes, 0 no, 1 recorded abstain/absent as noted by staff. A separate vote on a standalone VE task for Brown & Caldwell — the design engineer — did not pass: council voted 5‑0 to postpone or not approve that item at this time pending the feasibility study results.

The decisions followed an extended public comment period in which residents urged caution and demanded transparency about sewer rates. Sherry Finn told the council, "No senior should ever have to choose between running water and medication," arguing the city’s utility charges violate "proposition 218." Another speaker, Diego Hernandez, cited public records he said show the sewer fund payroll rose from roughly $587,000 in FY2022 to $1,800,000 in recent actuals and asked for an audit of ARPA transfers and a $2,000,000 loan associated with the fund.

Council members repeatedly distinguished the VE approvals from final project commitments and emphasized that the feasibility study (under way by Blackwater Engineering) will evaluate alternatives. "This simply allows us to explore and do the feasibility study," one council member said, urging residents not to assume the vote means immediate rate increases. Staff repeatedly noted that the funds proposed for VE come from sewer‑rate collections already in the enterprise fund rather than a new rate vote.

What’s next: staff anticipate VE work to bring additional cost options in time for a March–April workshop tied to the feasibility study. The council scheduled a public workshop to review options at roughly the same time frame. If a final project is selected, Council will consider implementation and any related rate implications at a later session.