Bloomfield water treatment plant project on hold

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
By Timberly Ferree, Staff Writer

Proposed work on Bloomfield's waste water treatment plant has been halted.

On Tuesday, the Bloomfield Town Council moved to table the lift station project -- which would include replacing pumps and moving controls above ground among other features.

In October, the council decided to advertise for bids for work on the lift station -- with the bids being opened during the November meeting.

But, Council President Roger Doane made the motion to table the item on Tuesday -- noting that more information on the project's specs is needed.

Council Member Jo Anne Carmichael voted in favor of the table but also said, "I just know we need to get on it as soon as possible."

Council Member Aaron Hamm also voted in favor of the table.

In an interview with the Greene County Daily World on Wednesday, Doane explained that the lift station project only received one bid -- which didn't include all the work needed.

"We didn't get any additional bids. We need to go back and re-do the specs," he explained.

The one bid that was received didn't include moving the lift station controls above ground, he added.

"We're going to work with Midwest Engineering to get the specs definitely the way we want them and then we'll go back out on bids," Doane also said.

At this point, he's unsure of when the project will be advertised again.

"It depends on Midwest Engineering's work load," he added.

The town's waste water treatment plant -- which was built in the 1960s -- is in need of many updates due in part to its failing sewer lines.

Bloomfield Street Department Superintendent Don Lawless said the problem isn't getting any better during a past council meeting.

"Many of the parts are becoming obsolete for the pumps," he explained.

"It's been an on-going problem that we need to take care of," Lawless also said, noting it keeps getting worse.

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So why were the spec's not correct the first time when the Council has known about all the problems we are having.

Is Midwest Engineering getting paid to do these spec's again and if so why are we doulbe paying.

I know my sewer bill doubled and I want to see results now, not 3 or 4 years from now.

-- Posted by bfman on Thu, Nov 5, 2009, at 9:42 AM