Poplar Bluff City Council members voted 4-3 Monday to accept a bid from Robertson Contractors, the second-lowest bidder, for upgrades to the city’s wastewater treatment plant. The vote comes after months of discussion, and a sometimes heated discussion on the matter Monday.
Their decision will now be forwarded to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources for review. It is expected to take several weeks before the city finds out if it will receive a low interest loan for the approximately $19 million in work, city manager Mark Massingham said.
Robertson of Poplar Bluff bid $18.91 million for the base project and one alternate, with Brockmiller of Farmington bidding $18.17 million.
The average residential rate would have gone from approximately $16.34 per month currently to approximately $28.44 per month under the Brockmiller bid, with a low interest state loan. Similar rate predictions were published in a front page article in April 2018, and were discussed by the council in 2018. Information was based at the time on engineer’s estimates for project costs.
The utility has said it may be $31.39 per month under the Robertson bid, if the loan is not approved.
__DNR DISAGREEMENT__
Council members in favor of Robertson disagreed with the rate assessment, saying it would be the same no matter which company was chosen.
Council members also disagreed during the meeting on whether or not the city had just cause to refuse the Brockmiller bid and if DNR could refuse to issue the loan if they could not prove just cause.
Council members Shane Cornman, Barbara Horton, Lisa Parson and Steve Davis, who voted in favor of Robertson, believe DNR will support their decision. Cornman and Horton said they had confirmed this with DNR.
“I cannot understand why if that’s the case, DNR has not advised the (city) attorney, or the city manager. DNR has talked to three of you and it does not make sense,” said council member at-large Ron Black. “The communication that is brought back has not been shared from DNR with this council from either the city manager or the city attorney and that would only seem proper.”
Black voted against Robertson, as did Mayor Robert Smith and council member Ed DeGaris.
Cornman and Horton said they took the initiative to call DNR.
“I like to get my facts in line before I make a decision, so I called them and asked,” Horton said. “You could have too. I felt like that was my duty as a city council member, to investigate more.”
Black said he had no problem with anyone calling.
“I do have a problem with making a major decision without verification. It’s not good business,” he said.
__BID DISAGREEMENT__
Council members have disagreed over whether the Brockmiller, the apparent low bidder, submitted a document that complied with the project requirements.
Cornman has cited the fact that Brockmiller bid $5,000 per unit for both replacement and reconfiguration of blowers as out of line compared to other bids for the same item and a reason to refuse the bid. Robertson’s bid has $171,900 and $58,500 per unit, respectively for these line items.
Brockmiller President Bill Giessing told the council during the meeting these bids were specified as lump sum bids, not line item. He has said the line item in question included only labor, and that parts were included in another line item with other parts from the same manufacturer.
“The Brockmiller bid is neither conditional, nonresponsive, unbalanced nor frontloaded. Everything required to complete the work, as its laid out in the plans and specifications, is included in my lump sum bid,” he said, adding his company has completed over 25 treatment plant projects in the last 12 years.
The Brockmiller bid has been vetted and recommended for award by the utility board, the utility manager, the engineer of record, the city manager and four attorneys, including the city attorney, he continued.
“It would be extremely difficult for DNR to ratify a decision that goes against the unanimous recommendation of all the city officials that are tasked with the responsibility of evaluating and recommending that bid,” he said.
Cornman has said that lump sum bids would not require 43 separate line items, and has argued that this was not a lump sum bid.
He said the council needed to make a decision so the matter could be sent to DNR for evaluation.
City attorney Mark Richardson cautioned the council that whoever was selected for the project would be the one the city contracted with. The only decision to be made by DNR is whether or not the city qualifies for a low interest loan, Richardson said.
If the city does not qualify for the loan, it would have to pay higher market rates.
The city expects to repay the debt over 20 years.
Sewer rates will increase in two phases, when the bonds that pay for the project close and at substantial completion of the work.
The work is required to meet new standards set by DNR for wastewater treatment. It is expected to take 12-14 months to complete.
Utility general manager Bill Bach said after the meeting it was good that the council has made a decision and the project can move forward.
This item was listed on the council’s agenda as workshop only. The council voted to amend the action agenda to include it, with Black as the only ‘no’ vote. He said he was voting against naming Robertson, not the moving it to the action agenda.
There was a procedural error that resulted in the item not being included originally on the action agenda, according to the discussion.