City awards major water bids

As usual, water played a central role in the City Council's meeting Monday night, whether it involved pumping it from the ground, treating it for consumption or disposing of it.

The city was even blamed for property damage related to rainwater.

The council awarded several million dollars worth of contracts related to improving the city water supply, and made changes for disposal of brine from the new water treatment plant that should speed up the construction process without additional cost.

The council also declined for the third time, this time on a 3-2 vote, to regulate or prohibit the drilling of private wells in the city limits.

After final debate over the size of the reservoir, the council voted unanimously to award a bid of $1.7 million to Preload Inc. of Richardson, Texas, for a new four million gallon water reservoir for the city's water system.

Engineer Greg Wolford said that size would give the city 57 hours of reserve time in case the new water treatment plant breaks down. Also considered was Preload's bid of $1.2 million for a two million gallon tank and $844,050 for a one-million tank.

Wolford said the two million galloon tank would be acceptable, but planners recommended strongly against the smallest tank.

While the water treatment plant has several layers of redundancy built in, designers have to plan for a catastrophic failure. McCook uses an average of 2.5 million gallons of water a day, with the plant designed for a peak demand of 6.8 million gallons.

The only other bidder on the storage tank was Natgun Corp. of Overland Park, Kan., with bids of $1.8 million, $1.2 million and $841,500 for the four-, two- and one-million gallon tanks, respectively. The current four-million gallon tank has to be replaced because of concerns that it is sitting on ground contaminated by a diesel spill from the railroad.

The council approved a plan for a new location for a 2,000-foot deep injection well for disposal of wastewater from the treatment plant.

Dale Jacobson of W Design/JHC Joint Venture explained in a memo that state officials expressed concerns about possible cross contamination between the injection well and the city water supply if the injection well were located at the treatment plant site, as originally designed. Instead, the well will be located at the city's waste water treatment plant, which already was planned as a backup site.

The new site has the added advantage of moving it farther from existing oil wells, and using an already planned and budgeted test well for the injection well, at a savings of about $200,000.

Jacobsen said about 110,000 gallons a day can be pumped into the disposal well.

The council also awarded, without much discussion, $1.2 million for Paulsen Inc. of Cozad as general construction for the water treatment plant, and $539,598.25 to BSB Construction of Curtis for the heavy mechanical contract.

Other bidders included Herman Contracting of Columbus, McCook Contracting LLC of McCook, Midlands Contracting of Kearney, Sampson Construction Inc. of Kearney and Simon Contractors of North Platte.

The council also approved deduction of $48,192 for changes in ion exchange equipment supplied by Tonka Equipment Co. The supplier and engineers are working out details of the design for the water treatment plant.

In reviewing an updated schedule for the water treatment plant, officials noted that work is proceeding ahead of schedule and under budget.

The council voted 3-2 against an ordinance which would restrict the drilling of water wells within the city limits.

City officials cited cross contamination, protection of the water source and revenue concerns in proposing the ordinance.

Councilman Phil Lyons said he didn't favor adding another layer of bureaucracy into well regulations already covered by state law.

"Drill a well or not, I don't see throwing the city manager into the mix," he said. Lyons also added that he didn't want the ordinance to prevent a large industry from drilling its own wells if needed. "We want to be business-friendly," he said.

Mark Wilcox, who uses a private well to water his lawn, and well driller Rick Wilcox, not a relative, both spoke against the ordinance.

Rick Wilcox said state law already restricts well drilling and abandonment, and many residents already are prevented from drilling wells by spacing requirements.

Even those who can drill wells are reluctant to spend the thousands of dollars it takes to drill a well and install a pressure system.

Bill Longnecker and Mayor Dennis Berry were the only councilmen to vote in favor of the new city regulation, which failed 3-2.

The council agreed to sponsor a grant application for 13 homes south of McCook, through the Emergency Community Water Assistance Grant, prepared by Miller & Associates, to connect the homes to the city water supply.

City Attorney Rhonda Vetrovsky, however, asked that the contract include some mechanism for paying for or refunding the difference between the amount of the grant and the actual cost of the project.

The grant application asks for $174,026, but the anticipated maximum grant is $150,000, with the residents agreeing to pay the additional cost.

The city hopes to have increased water revenues of some $7,600 per year from the new water customers.

The council forwarded to the city's insurance company a $500,000 tort claim from Klein Motor and Electric Co., concerning erosion from the city's storm sewer system.

The document claims that the city was negligent in the design, construction and maintenance of its storm sewer system and has appropriated private property for public use, and has no easement across the company's property.

The council also reviewed a water and sewer rate report requested by Councilman Jim Kenny. The water rates show a 25 percent increase in January 2004, 46 percent in January 2005, 32 percent in October 2006, and 5.5 percent each in the following four Octobers.

Sewer rates show an increase of 16 percent in March 2005, 16 percent in October 2006, 11 percent in October 2007, 9 percent in October 2008 and 6.25 percent in October 2010.

Mayor Berry pointed out that in a recent rate comparison, McCook's water and sewer costs were "in the middle of the pack" as compared to other similar cities.

In other business, the council:

* Authorized application, along with Red Willow County, for a Homeland Security grant for emergency communication. Police Chief Ike Brown said plans for a statewide communications system remain uncertain, but the grant application will allow the city to keep its options open.

* Approved a special liquor license for a bull riding event to be held at the Kiplinger Arena on April 30 from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.

* Approved a liquor license for Roger Dame as manager of the Knights of Columbus hall.

* Approved the appointment of Keith Delano to the Board of Zoning Adjustment to fill the remaining term of Bob Gaulke, who has moved away.

* Awarded the bid for a new compost screen at the transfer station to Orbit Screens, for $29,860.

* Approved the reclassification of McCook Regional Airport from a Class II to a Class III airport, on the recommendation of state officials. The move will save the city approximately $41,000 a year in additional training costs required for the new, higher classification.

* Approved changes in the sewer system in the Business Park. The old, 12-inch pipe will be abandoned and a new 21 inch sewer line installed, allowing for future growth. The project will cost some $255,000.

* Conducted an executive session to discuss potential and pending litigation and land acquisition.