Marysville accepts near-term wastewater plant upgrades after staff report on equipment and change orders

The Marysville City Council on June 8 authorized the mayor to accept the near-term tertiary improvements project at the city’s wastewater treatment plant following a staff presentation describing equipment installations and construction change orders.

Project engineer Thad Zender said the improvements were intended to reduce algal and other blooms that had plugged sand filters and increased maintenance. Key installations included a new band screen placed ahead of the pump system (engineer-stated capacity: roughly 10 million gallons per day) and strainers sized to treat approximately 4–5 million gallons per day and filter debris larger than about 200 microns (Zender noted that is roughly the thickness of three human hairs). Zender said the original contract executed at about $2.94 million and total construction was 'a little over $3.2 million' after several change orders, including a roughly $70,000 upsize for strainers and about $130,000 to replace a crushed pipe discovered during construction.

Zender recommended acceptance and starting the 60‑day final-closeout filing period; Council Member James moved to accept and Council Member Richards seconded the motion, which passed. Staff said acceptance begins the administrative closeout period and that some change orders reflected necessary repairs to aging plant infrastructure.

Why this matters: staff described the equipment changes as reducing recurring maintenance needs on sand filters and increasing operational resilience at the plant. The funding and change-order history will be part of the project closeout documentation supplied during the 60‑day filing period.