Safford wastewater plant wins ADEQ bronze award; council renews Jacobs O&M contract with CPI adjustment

City staff accepted a Voluntary Environmental Stewardship Program bronze award from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality for the Hila Resources water‑reclamation plant, recognizing sustained compliance with groundwater and surface-water permits.

Justin Harris, ADEQ community engagement section manager, said the recognition reflects leadership and ongoing permit compliance and noted benefits of the VESP program such as advanced notification of most inspections and listing on ADEQ’s stewardship webpage.

Separately, staff presented Amendment No. 5 to the city’s five‑year operations-and-maintenance contract with Jacobs, which would remove an existing 3% cap on annual increases and use an average of the water-and-sewage CPI and the western-urban CPI to determine contract escalators. Staff said that using the averaged CPIs better reflects regional conditions and estimated the FY27 contract cost at roughly $785,970 (comprised of $669,980 for Jacobs’ services plus $115,927 for materials).

Council discussed the CPI methodology, the five-year term and maintenance‑budget oversight; staff confirmed maintenance purchases go through the city and excess maintenance funds are returned to the city. After discussion, council approved the contract amendment.

What happens next: Jacobs will continue to operate the plant under the amended compensation method; staff will continue to monitor costs and bring any substantive CIP or expansion needs back to council for budget approval.