The City of Knox will be dipping into its American Rescue Plan money to upgrade its water filtration system, but exactly how much it will cost still remains to be seen. The city council recently agreed to use the money to cover half the cost of replacing the filter media, at the recommendation of Mayor Dennis Estok.
“I do not want to take all of that out of their operating funds, their Cumulative Capital funds,” Estok told council members. “They’re pretty strong, but not in all reality, when you do projects.”
The Knox Board of Works had tabled the matter last month, after Water Superintendent Tim Lindewald only presented one bid. “I only have one bid because I put a master book together, and it looks like Peerless has been doing it since the early 2000s,” Lindewald told board members. “I mean, there’s other people that do it, but they’re also working with us. I got with [Water Superintendent] Jason [Clemons]. I can use their vac truck to suck it all out to save us some more money, so we’ll also be helping with the project, too.”
At the time, Estok felt a project that size needed more than one bid, and Peerless Midwest’s $147,000 estimate was significantly higher than the $100,000 the board of works was expecting it to cost.
Lindewald blamed the cost increase on the need for manganese removal. “We’re not getting cheap media,” Lindewald said. “It’s taking manganese out. It’s green sand, very costly. I mean, I can do some more homework if you want me to, but that’s just more and more months that we’re not doing what we should be doing.”
In the end, Estok directed Lindewald to get additional bids. Knox had applied for funding for water and wastewater upgrades from the State Water Infrastructure Fund, but was denied.
