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Oak Creek awards $49.6 million underground facilities rehabilitation contract to CD Smith
Summary
The Common Council approved a $49,565,000 award to CD Smith Construction for the city’s underground facilities rehabilitation project, which relocates buried chlorine contact tanks above ground, adds UV disinfection and an intermediate pump station, and includes soil remediation and landscaping.
The Oak Creek Common Council on May 5 voted to award the underground facilities rehabilitation (UFR) project to CD Smith Construction Inc. for a lump-sum contract of $49,565,000 and a soil‑hauling unit price of $35 per ton.
Brian Johnston, director of utilities, told the council the project will move existing underground chlorine contact tanks and clear wells out of the ground, add an intermediate pump station and UV disinfection, and construct a new above‑ground concrete contact tank. "The whole goal of this is to get all the stored water out of the ground, get it up above the ground," Johnston said while outlining the project’s pump station, UV reactors and two‑tank protection strategy.
Johnston described a deep excavation requiring significant shoring and pilings, multiple underground floors for pumps and pumps' access, and soil contamination handling. He said incorporation of UV reactors allows the design to downsize the contact tank and provides an additional barrier for viruses and Cryptosporidium. The project schedule calls for construction starting in June and continuing roughly two to three years.
On plant capacity, Johnston reported the required changes would reduce the city’s permitted capacity for the plant in its current regulatory filing: "This actually decreases our capacity. So in order to get this approved ... it decreases our capacity to 18.4 MGD," he said, adding the plant’s design rating remains larger and the utility averages around 8 MGD daily now.
Council members queried redundancy, access for maintenance, the bidding environment and contingency amounts. Staff said two official bids were received, with CD Smith the low bidder; the quoted $49,565,000 includes design, construction, engineering and contingency but not loan interest. The city plans to use the Safe Drinking Water Loan Program and aims to have contract documents in place to meet that program’s timeline.
By roll call the council approved the award to CD Smith; the motion included the lump‑sum contract and the unit price for soil hauling. Staff noted site landscaping plans will include planting dozens of trees and native grasses once contaminated soils are capped and covered.
