Wenatchee council awards generator installation contract for critical water sites

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee City Council voted to award a construction contract to Midland Electric to install nine backup generators at the city’s critical water infrastructure, including water reservoirs and the wastewater treatment plant.

Darcy Ronning, utility projects manager for the public works department, told the council the city was awarded a $1,000,000 grant through the Chelan County Hazard Mitigation Wildfire Resiliency Program to purchase generators. "In total, we have 9 generators we've purchased with this grant money, and we are now ready to install them," Ronning said. She reported four responsive bids and said Midland Electric was the low apparent bidder at approximately $347,000; the engineer’s estimate was $346,854.40.

Council member Rodentine moved and Council member Miller seconded a motion to award City Project 2307 to Midland Electric and authorize the mayor to sign the contract documents. The council voted in favor and the presiding official declared the motion carried.

The project is intended to provide backup power to critical water assets during wildfire-related outages and other emergencies. Ronning said the project must be complete by mid-May. Council members expressed support and asked for a future site tour; Ronning said she would arrange one.

The council’s action authorizes the mayor to execute contract documents; the council did not publish a line-by-line budget breakdown in the meeting packet beyond the grant amount and the bid figure given at the meeting.

The next procedural step is contract execution and contractor mobilization under the terms contained in the contract documents and the grant agreement.