The Stayton City Council has approved spending $849,000 to service sand filters at the wastewater treatment plant.
During a meeting Jan. 24, the council accepted a bid from Big River Construction, of Salem, to apply a new layer of sand in one of the plant’s three filter beds.
The project will be paid out of American Rescue Plan Act funds. Public Works Director Lance Ludwick said his department will still do what they can to keep costs low.
The city went out for bids last month as part of a long-term plan to keep the filter beds up to operational standards. One bed was previously serviced in 2018, and the city plans to service the third around 2025.
Public Works Director Lance Ludwick said the high cost of the bid was tied to recent inflation within the construction industry, and a statewide monopoly on sand suppliers.
Ludwick said construction costs have risen between 10 and 12 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic, and servicing the treatment plant was no exception. He added the sand required for the filter beds is regulated by the EPA and Oregon Health Authority, and Oregon has only one vendor able to meet those standards and the lack of competition has kept prices high.
As an example, he said Big River Construction serviced the previous filter bed in 2018 for around $300,000 less. But because the work is necessary for public health, and because Big River Construction was the only bidder and has been a responsible partner in the past, Ludwick recommended approving the bid.
“We’re in a position that we don’t have a whole lot of leverage with this because we need it done,” he said. “…Without the appropriate amount of sand in there, we cannot promise the public we are processing wastewater as we should be.”
Ludwick said Stayton should be proud of the water serviced by its utilities. The city received four consecutive awards from 2016 to 2020 for the best-tasting surface water in the state from the Oregon Association of Water Utilities. Ludwick said they plan to start another streak if the association breaks its COVID hiatus next year.
“We’re just fortunate that we have a good, clean water supply,” he said.
