Andrew Meyerhofer of Square Engineering talks with the Clymer town board about an update in the budget and bidding process for the water system upgrade. P-J photo by Sara Holthouse

By Sara Holthouse

sholthouse@post-journal.com

CLYMER — The large-scale water system upgrade that the town of Clymer has been working on for the past few months is almost ready to begin the bidding process for contractors.

Andrew Meyerhofer with Square Engineering updated Clymer Town Board members on the project recently, saying that at the moment the company is still waiting to hear back from the health department in regards to all of the paperwork and plans that have been submitted. Meyerhofer said they had hoped to hear back in early February but had not yet, though he added the bidding process will be ready to start after that. Meyerhofer also addressed the budget for the project.

“In terms of budget, we did an estimate a couple of weeks ago, looking at all of the numbers, looking at all of the quantities, and we are still looking like we are going to be on track for what the original budget was, which was around $10.4 million,” Meyerhofer said. “Now, that being said, to date the town has received a $5 million WIIA grant, and that is for up to 60% of the project costs. Doing that math, that would mean to utilize that full $5 million, the town would want to complete an $8.3 million dollar project, not leaving any grant dollars on the table.”

The final decision on that is up to the town, Meyerhofer said, adding that the rest of the project would be financed by a 30-year loan from Municipal Solutions. He also addressed the town trying to get a $2 million CDBG grant last year, which they were not awarded. The town can reapply this year.

“So, at this time with all of that budget stuff, what we would recommend for you guys is to move forward with an $8.3 million project, and then the final $2 million just keep reapplying to CDBG, and that would maximize all of the WIIA money,” Meyerhofer said.

As far as bidding the project to contractors goes, Meyerhofer said the current plan is to have one base bid, which will include the water tank, well site and some of the major mains, and then have six other additive bids. This will allow for them when it is time to award the bid to be able to decide what bids to award, meaning they could, for example, award the base bid and the first three additive bids but not bids four, five and six, and wait to award those at a later time when more funding is available.

“We’ve done this with many other communities in similar situations trying to get more grant money,” Meyerhofer said. “So that is what our intention is at this time.”

Town Supervisor Brian Willink said there are other additional revenue sources that are new as well, including an increase in water rates and the addition of a meter fee. An updated construction schedule because of not hearing back from the health department sees bidding beginning in early March and opening in early April, with the contract being awarded at the April town board meeting and construction starting in the early summer.

Meyerhofer said the current plan is for construction to be complete by 2027, which will be the start of the state Transportation Department’s planned road project in the town. Meyerhofer said they are coordinating with them for part of the project. Another open house like the one held in January is planned for the DOT project in April at Clymer Central School during spring break.

Meyerhofer also briefly discussed easements for the project, with 53 easements needed, and two resolutions that the town needs to approve for authorizing bids for the project and standardizing water meters. The next steps are deciding how much the board wants to spend on the project, with a clear amount for the budget needed to be put in the bidding for the contractors. Willink said the town will get to work on crunching some numbers to decide how much the town can handle for the project.

“There are some people that are not going to be happy with what’s coming down the road, but at the same time we’ve had years of inexpensive water and hopefully the community realizes that,” Willink said.

The commercial use rate has been increased, along with a meter fee, which the town says adds up to $60 per bill. The town then discussed how the new meters will be much more modern. Discussion also included having some sort of open house or public forum in the future for people to be able to hear and ask more questions about the increases, and that having other local town water rates and costs in their back pocket for then would be a good idea.

It was acknowledged that the cost increases will be cheap for what is basically a new system, and that people putting in their own wells cost a lot more.

“Water will be a topic for a few more years going forward anyway,” Willink said.