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Village awards contract for wastewater treatment plant
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By Andrew Kuehl
akuehl@kewaskumstatesman.com
KEWASKUM- The Kewaskum Village Board took another step forward in fixing problems at their aging wastewater treatment facility. The board met with four firms Tuesday evening, June 19, who expressed interest in rehabilitating the facility. Their choice- the least expensive firm who says they can do it in 1,800 less hours and $127,000 less than the other firms.
Why can they do it so quickly? Thomas Vik of Neenah based McMahon Associates, confidently stated “We are much more efficient than any other firm.” Vik also assured the board that they plan to stick by their price. If they go over budget- “We eat that,” Vik stated.
The village has budgeted $3.44 million for the project. McMahon will be paid $392,600 for labor.
McMahon Associates also offered to save the village some cash by having the village handle most of the equipment procurement to avoid contractor mark-up. This would mean the Department of Public Works would be required to play a significant role in the project.
Director of Public Works Jerry Gilles and water department interim lead operator Jim Noren (who has taken the reigns from Bob Manthei who is retiring) stated while this could be a time consuming role, they would be willing look into the idea more closely. Both men have worked with McMahon before, when they constructed the plant’s Ultra Violet Disinfectant System in the late 90’s.
McMahon Associates also provided a number of options the board could choose either as cost savers or to improve efficiency. One of the significant ideas was to install a Salsnes Filter to provide better screening in the pre-aeration stage of the plant.
McMahon offered the idea of converting the pre-aeration tank into a receiving tank for holding tank waste. (This is waste brought in by companies who service holding tanks. These companies pay the village for this service.) The Salsnes Filter would be placed in the head works and would be utilized for primary treatment.
The Salsnes Filter is made in Sweden, and being widely used in Europe. McMahon is currently testing the product in Northern Illinois.
After sitting through four hours of dog-and-pony shows from the four engineering firms, technology was the issue for many of the board members as they grappled with whom to choose. “There’s always going to be something that comes up,” stated Trustee Derek Peterson, who also serves as the chairman of the Public Works Committee.
Peterson was responsible for a lot of the legwork done to get the board to this point. “I spent a number of hours at each firm, had more conversations with each, nothing surprised me. It’s a clear-cut decision to make. When I look at McMahon and see the lowest bid, and that they are excited about working with us, they clearly stand out as my number one,” he stated before making a motion to accept the proposal from McMahon Associates.
The board’s penny pincher, Kevin Schuenemann agreed, and gave Peterson’s motion a second. The rest of the board followed suit, giving approval for the McMahon Associates proposal.
More on McMahon
During their presentation Kari Dennis explained that while headquarters are located in Neenah they have offices in Illinois and Indiana. They have a full service staff with over 160. Their wastewater team includes 12 full-time engineers in the design department, eight professional engineers, two board certified environmental engineers and five full-time constructions services professionals.
Dennis touted that they have worked on over 100 wastewater treatment plants throughout the Midwest. They continue to provide on-going services to Lomira, Fredonia Cedarburg and Belgium among others in Wisconsin.
Moving forward with McMahon
In their presentation, Dennis described the timeline they would follow. The preliminary design would be begin in July and be presented to the village in the middle of August. The final design would then be presented for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) approval by the end of this year. After receiving DNR approval they would advertise for bids in April of 2008 and award a contract in June of that year. Final completion would be in July of 2009.
Village Administrator Jay Shambeau stated that the village would engage in contract negotiations with McMahon. The next time the village board hears from them, it would be when they present their preliminary plan. From this point on McMahon will work with village staff, primarily Gilles and Noren.
The board heard from but did not accept a proposal from their contracted engineering firm Ruekert Mielke. This means that Ruekert Mielke will not participate in the project. However, they will continue to play a role in other engineering projects for the village.
To see a copy of the presentation from McMahon Associates CLICK HERE.
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