BURTON CITY COUNCIL AWARDS CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT FOR WATER WELL

  

The Burton City Council on Tuesday awarded a construction contract for the drilling of a new water well.

The council accepted the project bid of C. Miller Drilling, Inc. of Winnsboro in the amount of $1,207,077.  The bid was one of two submitted to the city, the other coming from J&S Water Wells of Bellville for $1,541,974.

The city will pay for the well through certificates of obligation not to exceed $675,000 and with a $593,800 grant from the Texas General Land Office.

BEFCO Project Civil Engineer Bradley Loehr said the total project cost, including grant administration and engineering expenses, will come out to about $1.33 million, leaving a deficit of roughly $57,000.  Loehr said BEFCO still recommends accepting the bid, given the uncertainty of going out for another round of bids.  He also said the engineering firm is confident it can “whittle down” some costs to get back within the overall budget.

Loehr noted that the new well, which will be located near the city’s existing one at Burton City Hall, will be the same depth as the current well.  This means that the wells cannot run at the same time and will need to run independently.  Otherwise, Loehr said the wells would “starve” each other. 

However, it also means that each pump will run half the time of what it does now, which, combined with opportunities to perform preventative maintenance on the well that is not actively operating at a given time, should help prolong their lifespans. 

The next step will be to finalize contract documents, a process expected to take 3-5 weeks.  Construction of the new well is estimated to be complete by around Thanksgiving.

Also on Tuesday, the council approved an ordinance regarding payment procedures for water and sewer service and rates.  Included in the action is a new utility aid cost reduction program, where the city will freeze sewer rates for residents who apply and qualify for assistance.  Residents must use less than 4,000 gallons of water a month in order to request aid.