Quincy accepts bid for reclaimed water facility

QUINCY — The Quincy City Council approved a $2.2 million bid for first part of construction of the wastewater reuse facility.

The first phase of the facility will pump water from the wastewater reclamation facility to the Microsoft data center on the west side of the city. The water would then be used for cooling.

The city received 17 bids for the project ranging from $2.2 million to $3.9 million.

The original estimate for the project is $3.7 million, according to an engineering report from Gray and Osborne.

“(These are) very competitive prices, very competitive bidding climate, like we saw with the West Canal crossing about a month and a half, two months ago,” said Larry Julius, a principal for the firm. “We were concerned that possibly with the weather … It’s possibly the worst week in the year to have a bid opening, we might see some prices bump up, but we didn’t.”

The winning bidder was MRM Construction from Ellensburg, Wash. Julius said the company is a utility contractor the firm has worked with before. The company completed projects in places such as Yakima, Wash., for the state Department of Transportation and in Ellensburg.

“Utilities and road work are about all they do,” he said. “(The company had) very good references from the folks we checked … We found them to be top notch in the quality of their work, a little slow in the office on their paperwork, but we just need them to remind them and they get their paperwork in.”

The phase is split between four parts. The first part is the pipeline and pump station to send the water from the treatment plant.

The second part would extend a 16-inch water main across Central Avenue South. Mayor Jim Hemberry said the city already budgeted about $30,000 for this part of the project. The construction company is charging $11,929.

“We’ve already got that covered and then some,” he said. “So it’s not a new cost.”

The third would put a 2-inch fiber optics conduit in the same trench as the city’s proposed pipelines in 13th Avenue Southwest and Northwest and D Street Northwest.

The cable company Zayo Bandwith is paying $9,333 for the third portion of the phase.

The fourth includes installing 6-inch pipelines between the treatment plant and the food processing plants.

Julius recommended the city award all the parts to MRM Construction.

The largest part of the project will be paid for with a $4.5 million grant the city received from the state Legislature. After paying the contractor and for engineering, there will be about $1.4 million remaining, Julius said.

“We’re looking to the funding agency to see if we can put more pipe in the ground, do work towards phase two, which is to extend the reclaimed water main over to the data centers on the east side of town,” he said.

City Administrator Tim Snead said he contacted the Washington state Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development to see how the department would allow them to use the money.

“We’d like to try to go from Microsoft north … at least get it up to Road 11, and also have funding available to start the pilot project,” he said. “If there’s even money available and (the state) allows it, we also like to look at construction to the south of Lauzier out to the industrial plant. Try to get as much of the backbone in as possible.”