August 14, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
A major sewer system rehabilitation effort is within a few months of getting started in the City of Smithville.
During last Monday night’s meeting, the Mayor and Aldermen awarded a bid, as recommended by JR Wauford & Company Consulting Engineers, to Cumberland Pipeline, LLC of Columbia Kentucky in the amount of $2,649,513. The scope of the work will be to primarily replace cross country sewer lines in four specific areas of town generally in the following locations: On West Main Street starting behind the Middle Tennessee Tae Kwon Do business (old Piggly Wiggly building) to West Broad Street near the NextGen Auto Inc. business (old Baker’s Body Shop location); From Whaley Street near Patty’s Restaurant to White Oak Drive; From Foster Road across from Doe Lane to West Broad Street; and from Congress Boulevard near Liberty State Bank and DeKalb Christian Academy to NHC Healthcare Center. Again, the work will be done primarily cross country rather than along roadways.
Daniel Tribble, Manager of Field Services for JR Wauford and Company explained that while the low bid for the project was $2.6 million, the city is getting financial assistance to help cover the costs.
“The City of Smithville was awarded a Community Development Block Grant in the amount of $300,000 by the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. As part of the Build Back Better Act and the American Rescue Plan Act the City of Smithville was also awarded $1,311,999 in non-competitive grant funding to be used for sewer rehab,” said Tribble.
The city’s local funding portion is $1,095,763 from available water and sewer funds.
“We have designed this project that is a continuation of one that began a few years ago to rehab cross country sewer lines, not those that run parallel with roads but that run mostly along creeks and ditches where most gravity sewers end up and terminate,” said Tribble. “We had a bid opening on June 25 where we received four bids. We then had to conduct a mini rebid to satisfy ECD requirements where you allowed us four bidders to rebid on the same project. The low bidder submitted the same price both times at $2,649,513. The low bidder is Cumberland Pipeline, LLC of Columbia, Kentucky. Our firm has worked with them before and we recommend that they be awarded the contract for sewer system rehabilitation,” said Tribble.
The project involves unit price which means the final quantities determine the final contract amount so the final contract amount may differ from the bid amount.
Tribble said the work is expected to start by the first of the year.