Sycamore council OKs bid to remove debris at wastewater plant
By DENNIS HINES dhines@shawsuburban.com
SYCAMORE – The city plans to hire a Wisconsin company to remove debris at the wastewater treatment plant.
Members of the Sycamore City Council unanimously approved a bid, during their regular Monday meeting, to award a contract to Veolia ES Industrial in Fort Atkinson, Wis. to drain and remove sludge from the plant's aerobic digesters.
Representatives from Veolia ES Industrial submitted a bid of about $25,240. City public works employees were set to work on the project this summer, but it was delayed.
The cleaning process is part of the first phase of the wastewater treatment plant improvement project. City officials estimate that about 500,000 gallons of sludge will be removed as part of the cleaning.
"If we don't do this, we can't proceed with some of the next steps of the upgrade, so we're going to have to hire somebody to come in and do this," City Manager Bill Nicklas said.
Mayor Ken Mundy said he was surprised with the range of the bids that were submitted. Other companies that submitted a bid for the project included United Liquid Waste Recycling of Clyman, Wis. at about $55,176; Stewart Spreading of Sheridan at about $67,500; and Merrell Brothers of Kokomo, Ind. at about $207,256.
Public Works Director Fred Busse said the other companies may have submitted a higher bid because they have other projects to complete at this time.
"A couple of the higher ones, that were $67,000 and $55,000, apparently, I would say they have a little bit more work to be done that this was not really that attractive to them," Busse said. "The one from Merrell Brothers, we have no idea what they were thinking when they submitted their bid. Apparently, they didn't want any work at all."
In August, the council members approved a resolution to allow Mayor Ken Mundy to sign an agreement with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to participate in the organization's loan assistance program to help fund the first phase of the project. The first phase of the treatment plant improvement project will cost about $4.8 million.
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