Lack of funding delays water project again
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
ST. IGNATIUS — The majority of last week's St. Ignatius City Council meeting was spent talking about the town’s new water project that includes adding chlorination, a monitoring system and a new well and pipes. The city has been working with Montana’s Great West Engineering, and engineer Fred Phillips was on hand to answer questions and inform the town they needed around $267,000 more to fund the project.
“The bids are higher than our budget and in order to finish we need to increase the budget,” Phillips said.
In July 2010, St. Ignatius had a water sample that was positive for E. Coli. The town is now required to use chlorination. When the original water project bid was created, the town did not know they needed to add chlorination, which has increased the price of the whole project.
The original budget for the project was $327,000, and there were three bids for the project. But according to Phillips, there have been unforeseen price increases.
There was an increase of around $25,000 for some of the larger pipes needed for the chlorination, and an increase in the price of the fittings that connect them. Also a physical limitation with the drill head used to drill 10 feet below Mission Creek, to connect two wells near the skate park, has caused an environmental concern. Phillips said for the third well, a different drill head might be needed in order to not blow mud into the creek.
“I don’t guarantee our estimates,” Phillips told the city council. “Sometimes we are too low or too high. We do the best to give you the best projection.”
However, Phillips noted that he has yet to provide the town with an accurate list that breaks down the prices for all the items for the bid.
“It just seems like (the project is) hanging out there,” Rod Arlint told Phillips. “It doesn’t seem like we designed a real cost-effective project. Does this mean we have to pay you more if the plan changes?”
“I have donated a lot of time to this project,” Phillips said. “We won’t bill you.”
“You mean you won’t make as much,” Arlint countered. “It seems like we are off a long ways.”
“It is as if we are starting all over,” Marine Johnson said as she tallied a list of expenses.
St. Ignatius has a $103,000 state revolving fund loan, with $51,000 forgiven, to help pay for the project. The city also has a tax credit exchange program grant worth $253,000 and $100,000 from the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation for the project. The town also contributed $54,600 in reserves, which has been used to pay for engineering costs. About $71,000 has already been spent to cover engineering costs. Within the past month the city council has extended the engineering contract and paid an additional $18,000 for Phillips to provide design for the chlorination and chlorination monitoring that was not part of the original plan.
Philips suggested that the council could apply for a community development block grant, which could cost the city around $12,000 to pay a grant writer to complete the in-depth application. Phillips said he would talk with people in charge of the grant to find out if St. Ignatius qualifies.
The city council spent more than two hours discussing options. Phillips also suggested the town take a look at the project budget and cut some expenses such as the cost of replacing two fire hydrants, tree removal, seed and fertilizer and construction of a small building for the project.
Originally the Montana Department of Environmental Quality required the chlorination project to be finished by the summer of 2011, but St. Ignatius failed to meet the deadline.
Phillips said the council should start work first on installing the chlorination monitoring system and install pipe under Mission Creek and on Mountain View Drive to show the DEQ the town is making some progress on the project.
“We can hold the bid on the project for 60 days,” Phillips said. “We might have to bid again.”
The city council is going to wait to see if applying for the CDBG grant is worth investing their money or if they need to seek funding elsewhere.
