AVCSD wastewater treatment plant 90 percent designed
American Valley Community Services District Board of Directors President Denny Churchill shows the results of a six-hour meeting with treatment plant facility designers March 3. He also offered a flash drive available to anyone on the board who missed that meeting. Photo by Victoria MetcalfIt took Carollo Engineers more than six hours to bring American Valley Community Services District directors and staff up to speed on the design of the new treatment plant, but it didn’t take long for those same individuals to realize the beginning of the end is about to begin.
The design of AVCSD’s new state required wastewater treatment plant is 90 percent complete. The estimated cost of the new treatment plant is more than $38.9 million, said AVCSD President Denny Churchill at the Thursday, March 12, regular meeting of the board of directors.
Directors and staff sat through a special six-hour meeting March 3 with representatives from Carollo to learn all about the new facility and a lot more, Churchill said.
But when reps finally got to the meat of the operation, that’s when Churchill said it made the earlier two hours all worthwhile.
Churchill told the board March 12 that he was, “so impressed,” with the whole special meeting presentation and the way Carollo has handled the design phase.
Director Bill Martin said that he initially couldn’t understand when one firm could promise to get the design of the WWTP done in less than a year. Following the special meeting Martin said he now completely understands how the company could deliver the design on schedule.
“They (Carollo) came in at the 11th hour when we couldn’t use PACE,” Churchill said. PACE was the initially company AVCSD directors chose. The state rejected the choice.
Martin, understanding the district is still short about $5 million in grant funding said he hoped they had a shot at additional funding. He added that he didn’t want to raise additional funding beyond what they were already pulling out of the community.
Nunn said that with interest rates so low, she thinks they have a chance at getting additional funding.
In some cases, those who could loan the district funding don’t want to do that until the bids are in.
The design phase of the project, now 90 percent complete, signals directors and involved staff that it’s time to create a local timeline and follow it.
Bids are set to go out April 27, Nunn said.
Once a bidder is selected, groundbreaking could begin in August.
