GRAVETTE — Gravette City Council members at a committee meeting on Feb. 16 heard an update on the city’s wastewater treatment project. The governing board also opened bids for repair of the municipal swimming pool with final action on that project expected at the Council’s regular meeting this Thursday night.

The busy committee session saw numerous items of business discussed including reports from the various city departments. All six council members were present at the meeting. Alderman John Rambadt chairs the Committee of the Whole. The finance committee, chaired by Melissa Smith, met following the first meeting.

Four bids were received for repairing the pool which was closed last year, the first time it hadn’t operated since it was opened in 1979. The bids ranged from $39,850 by Alexander Pools of Gravette/Grove to $69,657 by Seaside Pools of Springdale. Other bids were $45,805 by Aquatic Pools of Gentry and $65,466 by Four State Construction of Arma, Kan.

The above bids cover 12 specific items. Installation of a diving board and an ADA chair pool access lift were extra options. Several bids also included additional items which were not specified.

Sewer Update

A review of options for the city’s sewer project was presented by Mayor Byron Warren, who with several other persons attended a meeting on the subject in Little Rock earlier in the week.

According to Warren, the meeting, arranged by State Sen. Kim Hendren of Gravette, was attended by the director of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, other state officials, engineers from a Fayetteville firm which completed a peer review of plans for the project completed by the city’s engineering firm, McGoodwin, Williams and Yates (MGWY), also of Fayetteville, and Decatur Mayor Charles Linam. Wastewater employees from both Decatur and Gravette were present as was Allyson Ransom, Gravette’s Communications and Resource Efficiency Director.

McClelland’s report zeroed in on piping Gravette’s wastewater to Decatur to utilize that city’s new plant, a plan which state officials seem to favor. Their estimate of that project is slightly more than $4,525,000 which compares to an estimate of $7-million proposed by the MGWY plan.

Contract Necessary

Documents presented by McClelland emphasize their figure is strictly an estimate: “Neither inflation nor a present-worth was considered in this evaluation.” Their plan focuses on utilizing an 8-inch force main to transport the sewage to Decatur. This contrasts with a gravity flow/pump station plan proposed by MGWY.

Warren said MGWY has been presented the peer review, which cost the city $2,800, for the firm’s interpretation.

State officials emphasized “an iron-clad contract” must be worked out between Gravette and Decatur concerning the cost to Gravette to utilize the Decatur facility, as well as other details.

Warren said negotiations between the two cities are a priority as is a response from MGWY.

The Mayor noted the city continues to work toward lowering the cost to customers. That concern has plagued the project ever since state and federal officials notified Gravette it must meet environmental standards, particularly involving phosphorus and nitrates.Gravette’s present lagoon system works perfectly as designed but needs major modification to meet the new standards. The Decatur option would eliminate utilizing Gravette’s present system.

News, Pages 1 on 02/23/2011