Spring isn’t here yet but not far away, summer will sneak up on us before we know it and that means watering season. Wow do we use water in the summer months! It seems everyone enjoys green grass in the summer and with the soils we have here in Becker, black sugar sand, it takes a good deal of sprinkling to keep the grass in top condition. So we use water in mass quantities much to the chagrin of the Mn DNR, but that’s another story.
Last year I wrote about the loss of one of our municipal wells and our efforts to replace that well. We searched all over the town looking for a good supply and finally found an area that should produce adequate quantities of water. During the winter we developed plans and specifications for a well and well house to provide for a new water source. Once they were approved, advertisements for bids were made with bids received on March 4th.
Given the early season for bids we had a lot of interest in the work. There were 7 bids on the well house and 6 bids on the well. Both of these bids were very competitive in nature and I feel the city saw good value in the bid amounts.
The well house had a low bid of $352,697.00 from Preusser Construction of St. Cloud. They have built a number of well houses in other communities. The second bid for the well house was within 1% of the low bidder’s amount. We had originally talked about an estimate of $300,000 for a well house but increased the size to accommodate three well runs and also improved the architectural look somewhat as this will be located in
With the well estimate we had 6 bids but one had to be eliminated. That bid had failed to acknowledge an addendum which expanded the work to be included in the bid. The lowest acceptable bidder was LTP Enterprises, Inc from
One snag in the project is that of a Department of Heath permit. We have applied for it and the review has taken place. It appears we have met the requirements for paperwork and the related DNR water conservation plan but no permit has been issued. We believe it to be a matter of a few days for issuance and in the meantime the contracts and contractors bonds and insurance requirements are being prepared. Generally this process can take up to 10 days so hopefully there won’t be a delay on the project. Once the permit and contract issues have been resolved the contractors can start their work, weather permitting. We hope to have the well on line for the summer watering season but will continue to work on water resources as we have a thirsty demand for water in Becker.
