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District reports two hires, single-bid leak-detection purchase and progress on Grimes generator and grant work
Summary
In the manager's report the board heard that two water/wastewater hires have filled vacancies, a single responsive bid will be awarded for hydrant leak-detection loggers, a Grimes generator is nearly ready for bid, and the district filed a Clean Water SRF bond-bank application while opening an RFQ for engineering to allow grant-funded engineering work.
The district manager told the board the water department is back to full staff after hiring two employees, and staff reported progress on several infrastructure items and funding steps.
Why it matters: restoring staff capacity and securing equipment and grant funding are important for maintaining operations and advancing projects such as leak detection, generator replacement and SRF-funded work.
Hiring and staffing
The manager said the district hired two returning employees: Mike, who brings eight years of water and wastewater experience, and Lance, who has a commercial driver's license and is returning to Caribou. The hires bring field staffing back to full levels and allow the district to operate with its usual crew rotations.
Contracts and equipment
The district went out for an RFP for hydrant-mounted leak-detection loggers and received a single responsive proposal that falls within the budget. Staff said they will award that contract in the coming days and deploy the loggers to locate and address water loss.
Generator and procurement
A replacement for the Grimes generator is nearing bid-ready design after a recent construction meeting. The existing generator auto-starts and exercises weekly but staff said it is nearing the end of its useful life. The manager said the district prefers diesel-fueled generators for long outages because diesel is more readily available during extended emergency conditions, and the highway department can provide diesel and hookups if needed.
Grants and engineering procurement
The district submitted a bond-bank application for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) loan by the deadline and is in the SRF queue for review. Because the EPA grant and SRF rules restrict certain engineering expenditures unless procured competitively, staff have opened an RFQ for engineering services to ensure eligible funding can pay for engineering work. The manager said the RFQ process (30-day advertisement and internal scoring) is underway; it ends July 31, and staff have a kickoff meeting scheduled with the EPA project manager to discuss whether multiple fiscal-year projects can be combined for a single federal award.
Next steps
Staff said they will award the leak-detection equipment, proceed to bid the generator once specs are finalized, and complete the engineering RFQ process so grant-eligible funding can be applied to project engineering. The board scheduled its next regular meeting for Aug. 12.
