Paragonah council hires Ensign Engineering for town water improvement; discusses tank design and bids

The Paragonah Town Council voted May 13 to hire Ensign Engineering to provide construction-engineering services for the Paragonah Town Water Improvement Project.

Chair moved to approve the contract; the motion was seconded and carried without a recorded roll-call. Council members then discussed technical details of the project, including whether the tank will be concrete or bolted steel and how the town will handle bidding and contractor responsibility after switching engineering firms.

Curtis Nielsen, who identified himself as running the Southern Utah office, told the council that Ensign will coordinate pre-bid meetings and vet contractors. "Per state code, we do typically have to go with lowest bid unless we can deem them non responsive," Nielsen said, noting Ensign would work with Sunrise (the previous engineer) on design handoff and vetting.

A committee member questioned the choice of tank material, saying, "I just assumed it would be steel." Nielsen and others explained that steel tanks can be roughly 30% less expensive than concrete but that modern concrete designs (including post-tension methods) and seismic requirements can change the cost and performance tradeoffs. Nielsen provided recent project cost examples: a 4,000,000-gallon concrete tank at about $5 million, a 500,000-gallon concrete tank at about $1.5 million, and a recent Enoch steel tank at roughly $1.7 million after foundation work.

Council members also pressed who would bear responsibility if problems arise after switching engineers mid-project. A committee member asked, "Who's gonna be responsible?" Ensign staff said they would review Sunrise's design and work with the town to finalize responsibility and contract language so liability is clear and the final contractor is accountable.

The council noted access and restoration requirements for construction: a landowner (referred to as McPherson) has provided an easement for access, and Ensign said it would include contract clauses requiring contractors to restore disturbed areas to their previous condition.

The Ensign contract was assigned the week of the meeting; Nielsen said the firm expects to advertise bids within a few weeks and will coordinate pre-bid meetings with town staff.

Next steps: Ensign will review existing designs, finalize bid documents with restoration and liability language, and put the project out to bid. The council did not record a separate roll-call vote on design choices at this meeting.