PUB approves payments on water projects

Jan 20, 2024

Jun 9, 2023

PARKERSBURG — Work on the four contracts in the Parkersburg Utility Board's ongoing $19 million water system improvement is about 80% complete, with some additional work being added to one project.

The board approved pay estimates for three of the contracts during its regular meeting Tuesday, and Manager Eric Bennett told members he planned to add about 900 additional feet of large-diameter water main replacement.

Bennett said there is approximately $140,000 in contingency funds for that contract with Tribute Contracting & Consultants that needs to be expended. Otherwise, the American Rescue Plan Act funds would be returned to the city. The work needs done eventually anyway, he said, and adding it to the existing contract is cheaper than doing it separately.

"It will start at 12th Street and go to the new (WVU Medicine) cardiac building," he said.

Bennett said he wanted to give the board a heads up so the contractor could move forward with the additional work. It will still need to be formally approved as a change order at a future meeting.

The board voted 3-0, with board member Paul Hoblitzell arriving shortly after, to approve pay estimates of $426,693.67 to Tribute for the large-diameter water main project and $320,312.90 to Stonegate Construction Inc. for the small-diameter water main replacement project.

Officials have expressed frustration with delays in pavement restoration work on the small-diameter project, but Bennett said Tuesday that the contractors "have moved much better" recently, pouring 100 yards of concrete in a single week. They recently completed work at Jefferson and Lincoln streets and are now in the area of Newberry Drive off 15th Avenue, he said.

Multiple pay estimates totaling $141,759.76 were approved for Caldwell Tanks’ work on the elevated storage tank upgrade on a 4-0 vote.

The board also voted 4-0 to draw down a combined $940,017.90 to cover the payments. That included $217,500.24 from the state Drinking Water Treatment Revolving Fund loan, exhausting the $11 million borrowed for the project, Bennett said. It will be repaid over 25 years with revenue from a phased, three-year water rate increase. The projects are also being funded with $7 million in ARPA funds provided by the City of Parkersburg.

The board also, on 4-0 votes, authorized a $217,063.55 pay estimate to Dunlap Construction for ongoing work on the water and sewer extension to undeveloped property atop Fort Boreman Hill and the draw of the money from a Governor's Closing Fund grant and ARPA funds contributed by the city and Wood County.

In other business, Bennett told board members the pilot project for C8 filtration is expected to be complete sooner than expected. The utility is working toward a $12.6 million project to add granular activated carbon filtration to remove the chemical, used for years in the Teflon-manufacturing process at the local Washington Works plant, from drinking water.

"The purpose of this (pilot project) is to determine how often the media will need to be replaced when it's full scale," Bennett said.

Though the pilot project is coming along at a faster pace, it will not change the overall timeline for the project, which Bennett has said is expected to go out for bid next year.

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Staff reporter Clara Noelle contributed to this story.

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