Town approves electrical contract and engineering task order as water-tank rehab advances

The Red Hook Town Board voted on June 9 to move forward with construction-phase elements of a planned rehabilitation for the town’s water-storage tank, approving an electrical contract and a not-to-exceed task order for engineering and specialized coating observation.

Procurement and contract awards The board accepted the engineer’s recommendation to award the electrical contract for the storage-tank rehabilitation to Huitt Young in the amount of $64,500 after staff disclosed that several bidders had submitted combined totals that did not separately break out trade components required under Wicks Law. Those combined submissions were judged noncompliant for the trade-specific procurement rules the town must follow; the engineer recommended and the board accepted the eligible low bidder for the electrical trade.

Engineering task order and quality control The board also approved a construction-phase task order with the town’s engineering firm (task order as presented in the meeting materials) to provide construction observation, submittal reviews, requests for information processing, pay-application review and change-order support during the rehabilitation. The task order budget presented in the packet was a not-to-exceed hourly-based figure (the resolution language references an $18,000 task-order authorization); board members were told the task order covers both the engineer’s time and the certified subcontractor services needed for coating verification and confined-space entry observation.

Supervisor Robert and staff explained that the coating work requires specialized certified inspection for surface prep, humidity/temperature monitoring, coating thickness checks and confined-space safety — services only a small number of qualified firms provide. Brandy (the consultant/engineer team) told the board the team had used the proposed subcontractor successfully on prior projects and that the task order was sized to balance sufficient oversight with cost control.

Project cost and financing Staff presented an updated project budget in the meeting: a total estimated project cost of approximately $1.045 million for the storage-tank rehabilitation (painting/rehab plus electrical and professional services). The town has about $400,000 in reserves earmarked for the project and a $200,000 contribution from Bard College toward the tank (the college uses the tower for backup service), leaving roughly $550,000 that staff said would need to be financed. Supervisor Robert said the board needed to set the financing terms soon to preserve bid pricing and the contractor schedule because the work must be done in a favorable weather window.

Board action and oversight Both the electrical contract award and the engineering task-order resolution were moved and approved by the board at the June 9 meeting. Members asked for additional written qualifications and the subcontractor proposal to be circulated to the full board after the meeting so members could review the specialized inspector’s credentials; staff committed to provide those documents.

Why it matters: Rehabilitating the water-storage tank is the largest capital expense facing the water district this year. The board must balance costs, the limited number of qualified coating observers, and the scheduling constraints of seasonal work while minimizing the financing burden on district ratepayers.

Next steps: Staff will circulate the subcontractor’s statement of qualifications and the engineer’s redacted proposal; the town will finalize financing arrangements and proceed with construction-phase oversight and contractor coordination.