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City accepts bids for water, sewage projects

By Everett Brazil, III

The Newkirk Herald Journal

NEWKIRK — The city of Newkirk is now able to move forward on much-needed upgrades to the city’s water and sewage infrastructure, following bid openings for several projects that address decades-old problems.

The city council accepted a bid for a water system overhaul at the Jan. 20 meeting, from Slatterly Construction Corp., Woodward, Okla., for $840,368.

Th council also accepted a bid of $112,748 from Beytco, Inc., Sapulpa, Okla. for the sewage upgrade project Feb. 10.

The current water system was built more than 40 years ago, and has aged to the point that much needs to be replaced.

“It was installed in the 1970s, when they installed Kaw Lake, and over time, the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) required new changes,” said city manager Jane Thomas.

The city’s plan focuses on the three wells, located on River Road on the west side of the Arkansas River. Out of those three wells, one is nonfunctioning, and the remaining two pumps, which provide all of Newkirk’s water needs, are also worn out and in need of overhaul.

The construction will replace all three pumps, and clean all the casings.

Additionally, there will be a new SCADA system installed, which will control when the pumps are on or off, about 550 linear feet of new waterlines and a new well house for one of the pumps.

The project will bring the system in line with DEQ standards.

“It’ll meet all current DEQ requirements. Everything will still be located where it is at,” Thomas said.

He city worked with Garver Engineering, of Norman, Okla., on the project, and put out bid notices, receiving one bid, from Slatterly Construction Corp. The bid was deemed too high, so a second bid notice was let, with Slatterly Construction again being the only bidding company. A  bid of $840,368 was ultimately accepted for the project.
“We didn’t have enough financing, and the bid was over the engineer’s estimates,” Thomas said. “We’ve been trying to get the bid down. We’ve rebid the project twice, and each time it’s been the same bidder. It was a little less this time.”
Thomas added that there is potentially a deductive change order, which could lower the cost of the project between $13,000 to $18,000, a big benefit for Newkirk.

The city also accepted a bid of $112,748 from Beytco, Inc. at the Feb. 10 commission hearing for a replacement of the lift station located in the Kaw Nation housing addition, east of Newkirk. Known as the White Plum lift station, it is one of three lift stations that pump the city’s sewage system.

“It’s worn out, and needs to be replaced,” Thomas said. “It’s a complete rehabilitation, and it’s going to have a completely new lift station, with new sewer pipe.
Unlike the water well projects, there were seven bidders for the project, ranging from $112,748 to $245,375,

Construction is expected to begin in March.

Funding is partially provided by city utilities, but the bulk will be taken from loans with Bank of Oklahoma.
“We have a water improvement fee on utilities that pays or part of it,” she said. “We did a bond revenue in 2015, borrowed about $3 million. We borrowed $422,000 for 2020 financing.”

 

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