An improper tender is going to cost Minto a considerable amount of money when it comes to a cleanout of its sewage sludge lagoon in Harriston.
Of the four tenders received for removing sludge from a cell of the lagoon, two were deemed informal and dropped from consideration – and one of those would have been the lowest bid for the project.
Council’s report from BM Ross and Associates said neither of the informal bids were sufficient to meet bid bond requirements. The remaining low bid was from Salcin Haulage, at $343,000 with an additional cost of $26,250 if the municipality wished removal of the existing aeration lines in the cell.
As a result, councillors found themselves in a rather messy situation.
Deputy mayor Judy Dirksen asked if the Salcin approach would be using bags and draining the lagoon, and Public Works Director Norm Fisk said yes.
Dirksen then asked if the cost included the spreading of the dehydrated material.
Fisk explained the work includes two stages. First the sludge is bagged and then, either in the fall or next spring, it would applied to the land.
Fisk said staff had to throw out the informal low bid from Bartel because “it wasn’t signed.”
Councillors winced at that News.
“There is a process,” Mayor David Anderson said.
Dirksen asked what the original project estimate was. Fisk said the estimate provided by its engineers was $205,000, and Salcin’s bid is nearly $140,000 more.
But even the invalid tender was not close to the original estimate, Fisk noted.
“I don’t know why there is that difference,” he said.
A bid for the same project by Terratec Environmental Ltd. came in at $504,000. The other informal tender of Wessuc was over $600,000, said Fisk.
He had no idea why the tenders seemed “all over the board.”
Councillor David Turton asked how this compared to what council had hoped for a year ago in dealing with the situation.
Fisk said the Bartel bid would have used a dredge system that would have left six feet of water in the lagoon and dredged the material from above – leaving the aeration pipes unaffected.
The other bids mean the air lines will need to be moved before the sludge is removed.
Fisk said another meeting is set with Salcin, and there may need to be another tender to deal with the air lines.
“The sludge haulers want nothing to do with the air lines,” he explained.
Councillor Rick Hembly asked if that meant the low bidder did not want the job.
Fisk said, “Oh yeah, he wanted it, but the tender wasn’t signed or stamped.”
Turton asked if doing the dredging with six feet of water in the lagoon would have been cheaper.
Fisk agreed and added that it would have made the air line removal a lot easier. Now, Fisks expects additional costs to deal with the airlines in the lagoon.
Turton asked if there is anything in the tender to deal with the situation.
“I think it’s really unfortunate that we can do something cheaper, but the tender is improper.
Fisk explained, “But it is the tender process.”
He agreed the result was unfortunate, “But when we opened the tenders, the guys were all sitting there and saw what had happened.”
Turton did not disagree with the tendering process, but he said the other process seemed to be the better way of doing it.
Councillor Wayne Martin saw this as another example of an overrun as a result of information from the town’s advisors.
“I’m getting a little concerned about the advice we’re getting. It’s getting really tough to budget (for projects). We’ve got a situation here.”
“What do you want us to do?” Hembly asked Fisk.
Fisk said there is not much of a choice. The only option would be to say “forget it” but there is more sludge in the lagoon than anticipated and the air lines still need to be worked on.
He said to re-tender, the work could not be done this year.
Hembly added costs may increase by another $100,000 by the end of the year.
Treasurer Gord Duff asked if council chooses to defer the work, would it hold up the remainder of the Harriston sewage project.
“We’ve signed an agreement to move forward on it.”
Martin asked if all the work planned could be done next year, or how it would affect a work schedule.
Fisk said it is a two-year project, but this particular work was scheduled for the first year.
He added if the person with the dredge knows Minto wants him to do the project, the cost might increase.
Anderson’s concern was with the engineer’s estimate used for the budgeting of the project.
Fisk said, “I don’t know what you do.”
Dirksen said, “Tendering process aside, my concern is that this is almost another $140,000. Do we have that kind of money? Obviously it means something won’t get done.”
Duff said this is part of the costs that are ineligible for funding for the Harriston treatment plant. “It’s not part of the two-thirds funding.”
He said it will increase the amount of money the town must borrow.
However, the Build Canada grant funds were determined by those estimates.
Duff’s fear is what will happen if other estimates are out as well.
Anderson asked if the decision was deferred, if it could be determined why the engineering estimates are so far out.
Fisk doubted there would be savings by waiting a year.
“I think we’ve pretty well beaten this to death as far as questions are concerned,” said Anderson.
Council awarded the work to Salcin Haulage
