Knox Wastewater Superintendent Kelly Clemons informed Board of Works members last Wednesday that an integral lift station that services much of the Industrial Park needs some upgrades.
The superintendent explained, “Our Pacific lift station, we want to rebuild the valve box in that. While we’re doing this we want to add a bypass so if the pumps go down, the power goes down or something happens we can get that water moved down the line.”
Clemons noted that the lift station was initially installed in the early 1980s and that valves are basically shot. She added that since future development is expected in the Industrial Park, it is time to do something to improve operations there.
Clemons collected four different bids for the proposed project. R.E Crosby submitted a bid of $16,915 and Flow-Technics had a bid of $12,838.27.
The third bid came from Ferguson Wastewater who submitted a $12,692.33. Clemons noted that Ferguson did not quote an air release valve (ARV) which was something she asked for in writing. The lowest bid of $11,500 came from JD Excavating.
Board member Jim Collins asked if funds were available for the project and Mayor Dennis Estok replied that there is money that can be used for this purpose.
The Mayor asked if there was a particular time frame established for the project. Clemons indicated that she doesn’t have an exact date set for when the work needs to be complete but she hopes that it can be done some time in the summer or fall, before it gets too cold.
After a brief discussion, with Clemons establishing that this was the best route to take to remedy the problems at the Pacific Lift station, board members voted unanimously to approve the low bid from JD excavating.