Water treatment bids $3 mil. over budget

Construction bids for improvements to the Wastewater Treatment Facility have been put on hold after coming in more than $3 million over budget.

Creston City Council was quick to approve the adoption of plans, specifications, form of contract and estimate of costs for the improvement project during Tuesday’s meeting. However, when it came time to look at construction bids, engineering firm Veenstra and Kimm’s Director of Engineering Libby Patton put any conversation to a halt.

“We opened bid last week on this project. They were unexpectedly high,” Patton said. “I would not recommend awarding at this time. When you open bids, you have three options. The first is to approve and award, the second is to reject all and the third would be to hold.”

The two bids that came in were $10.55 million from Story Construction Co. and $11.7 million from Building Crafts, Inc. The expected cost was much lower at $7.5 million.

“They told us, ‘labor’s been hard the past three to six months, the prices just keep going up, there’s a lot of projects out there,’” Patton said. “Story threw out the tariffs… I’m not sure the tariffs affect this one because we had BABA compliant, so they had to be locally sourced, but we asked the question, where is the money going?”

Patton and Creston City Administrator Mike Taylor said they were working together with the construction companies to attempt getting prices down.

“We’re hoping some subtle tweaks could provide some real savings. We also talked to them about pump styles, maybe changing that out. We really struggled to see where all the money is going,” Patton said.

When the paperwork on the Wastewater Treatment Facility improvements was originally done, a 60-day provision was put in place during which the council can hold the bids and attempt to lower costs. Taylor said while the city doesn’t plan to use the whole 60 days, some of this time will be utilized.

“We’re not trying to use that whole 60 days. We still feel like the sooner we get the contract issued, the better off we are as far as ordering things,” Taylor said. “Initially we said that we’re going to meet between now and the 10th to at least try and get some of these cost savings in place.”

Patton added she planned to return at the next city council meeting with cost savings and a recommendation on either awarding or rejecting the bids.

In other council news...

The council approved a second public hearing regarding the proposed budget for fiscal year 2026, set for 6 p.m. April 15 at the city council meeting.

The first band for the 2025 Party in the Park has been approved by council. The Carl Worden Band will be one of two musical acts at the annual event, scheduled for Saturday, July 5 in McKinley Park.

The special event applications for two other annual Creston events have been approved: Creston Farmers Market, set to begin Monday, June 2, and Crush Cancer in Every Color, scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 2.