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Glenwood Springs Wastewater Treatment Plant project about to begin

John Gardner
Post Independent Staff
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado – Work on the Glenwood Springs Wastewater Treatment Plant should begin in the coming months.

The city is finalizing the remaining steps in the process before construction can begin, after months of delays halted the project. But it looks like things are back on track.

According to City Manager Jeff Hecksel, the bond sale issued by the Colorado Water Development and Power Authority was issued Thursday, bringing the project one step closer to beginning construction.



Hecksel said that everything is nearly in place, and only a few steps remain before work can begin on the new wastewater plant. Those steps include closing on the financing with the water and power authority, scheduled to take place on May 10. And the city still has to issue a notice to proceed, but Hecksel said that is likely to happen very soon.

“The contracts have been signed,” he said. “We just have not issued the notice to proceed but we are looking at doing that in the immediate future.”



Hecksel said that the city does not have a specific start date for construction, but the project’s completion date remains scheduled for spring 2012.

“But we need to get going on it for them to be able to make that date,” Hecksel said.

City Council awarded the contract to Salida-based Moltz Construction at a price of $22.3 million, after postponing the award twice previously.

The 2010 Interior and Environment Appropriations Bill retroactively required the bid to include a Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirement after the city had already put the project out to bid initially. Council rejected all the bids, and re-bid the project in early 2010 including the prevailing wage requirement.

Council then postponed the bid award in March, due to a protest from an Aurora-based water and wastewater equipment manufacturer questioned the validity of the bid process. Council ultimately found the bid process to be valid and fair, and proceeded to award the bid to Moltz Construction in March.

The postponements of awards actually played into the city’s favor, reducing the cost of construction by more than $1.2 million. Initial estimates were that the inclusion of the Davis-Bacon requirement could increase the price of the contract by as much as 5 percent. Initial estimates of the project price were around $27 million.

Nearly $6 million in work, including construction of the plant’s access road and installation of a force main, is already complete.

The contract for the remaining portions of the wastewater treatment plant project will replace Glenwood’s existing plant, which is located at the confluence area north of Seventh Street.

The new facility will include a lift station at the confluence location that will be connected to the new facility by a force main that has already been installed. The new facility will be located to the west of the Glenwood Meadows Shopping Center on the old Chatfield property.

jgardner@postindependent.com


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