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City hears major Water Reclamation Facility update as $142 million change order is brought forward
Summary
Project manager Eddie Lopez told the committee the WRF improvements are 48% complete, outlined construction progress and phasing, and said Change Order No. 3 will be before council; staff said the project remains fully funded through grants, an SRF loan and enterprise funds.
Project manager Eddie Lopez told the City of Rapid City Legal and Finance Committee on April 15 that the city’s Water Reclamation Facility improvement project is about 48% complete and remains financed through a mix of grant, loan and enterprise funds.
Lopez said structural and equipment work is advancing on the south side of the plant and that crews will phase work so the existing plant can be decommissioned only after new systems come online. He said the South Electrical Building is the critical path and that commissioning that building this fall would allow several other facilities to be brought online by year’s end.
Lopez briefed the committee on change-order activity and said Change Order No. 3 will be on the council agenda for April 20. He reported a value for Change Order No. 3 of $142,002,271 and later referenced a similar figure reported elsewhere in the presentation; he also said total contract adjustments for the project are $689,539 and cited an adjusted contract price of $173,018,233. Lopez said the overall project remains fully funded, identifying a grant of $52,800,000, an SRF loan of $136,500,000 and the remaining balance covered by enterprise funds.
Council members asked technical and financial questions. Councilor Bill Evans asked what happens to sludge removed from clarifiers; Lopez said sludge is routed to digesters, then to dewatering equipment; solids ultimately are sent to landfill and biogas captured in the digesters is used to run boilers. Council members and staff also discussed corrosion in the primary-clarifier areas and the decision to rehabilitate those structures rather than fully replace them, which Lopez said produced cost savings versus constructing new tanks.
On a procedural motion, the committee moved and unanimously voted to acknowledge the presentation.
Why it matters: the WRF is a major utility project with tens of millions in public funds and multi-year operational impacts. The pending change order and cumulative contract adjustments will be before the full council and affect the project timeline and the city’s capital accounting.
What’s next: Lopez said Change Order No. 3 will be presented to the council on April 20; staff also will update the project web page and newsletter with the materials presented to the committee.
