Algood City Council must decide if they want to move forward with a proposed sewer rehabilitation project after the low bid came in $175,000 over budget.
City Engineer Matthew Tucker said the project would install 3,500 linear feet of main sewer lines, 2,000 feet of service lines, replace 22 manholes, and rehab 45 manholes. Tucker said the project should address a third of the city’s sewer system. Tucker said the bulk of the cost is 40 new service lines that will be connected.
“That’s where most of your money ends up in a lot of these projects, even in water projects now,” Tucker said. “Your main lines are one, but then all of the service connections is where you actually end up spending a lot of the additional funds.”
The city reviewed two bids during Monday’s work session. The city originally budgeted $966,000 for the project as they received a grant from TDEC. A portion of the budgeted funds is accounted for permits and preliminary camera work.
The low bid for the construction portion of the project came in at an estimated $951,000. Tucker said the project will address one-third of the city’s sewer system.
“Water is always gonna find the point of least resistance,” Tucker said. “So you fix this, and sometimes it will move its way down to the next spot, so it should take care of it, but I’m not gonna promise you that it won’t show you other things that you will need to address.”
Tucker said he does recommend awarding the bid to the lowest bidder. Tucker said if the council awards the low bid on Tuesday, then the project could start within the next 30-45 days and would take about a year to complete.
“This is the one that everybody has talked about that’s gotta be done by September of next year,” Tucker said. “We got your bid, we’re gonna get you awarded, and we put them to work this summer, and they should be able to get it in and get it done.”
The Algood City Council meeting will begin Tuesday at 6pm.
