Patterson alters water plant plan

City officials have changed plans for the city’s new water plant and are now proceeding with a “non-conventional” plant similar to two Arkansas plants that city officials visited.
City officials traveled to Batesville and Melvin to inspect non-traditional water plants, Grogan said at Tuesday’s city council meeting. The city’s 70-year-old water plant is in need of replacement, the mayor said.
The city tried to go the route of constructing a conventional water plant, but the bids came back as high as $11 million for that type of plant with the lowest bid at $10.4 million, Grogan said. “I’m not going back to the public and ask the public for any more monies,” Grogan said.
The plant would be a 50-foot by 100-foot, non-conventional facility, which means different chemicals would be used at the plant, Grogan said.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the council approved a resolution retaining the services of Providence/GSE Associates and authorizing Grogan to enter into an engineering agreement for the construction of a 3 MGD compact clarification water treatment plant. The resolution also included work authorization to consultant Professional Engineering Environmental Consultants relative to the work.
Several council members said they tasted the water at the plants they visited, and said it tasted good. “There are over 300 of these facilities throughout the United States, and they have not made one person sick to date,” Councilman John Rentrop said.
Mo Saleh of Professional Engineering Environmental Consultants heard about the problem Patterson was having in regard to the cost of the project, Grogan said. Saleh told Grogan that he could get the cost of the water plant in the $4.5 million to $6 million range, Grogan said.
Saleh designed similar plants for the City of Westwego and St. John the Baptist Parish, Grogan said.
The city is looking to get a $1 million to $1.5 million, 10-year loan from a bank instead of the $3.7 million, 40-year U.S. Department of Agriculture loan that was originally discussed, Grogan said. The public had already approved $5 million in bonds to construct the plant, the mayor said.
Once construction begins, it will take a year to build the plant, Grogan said.
The plant is projected to be built on Main Street between the old water plant and a mechanic shop, Grogan said. Providence/GSE Associates Engineer Clay Breaud said engineers originally designed a conventional water plant, but the bids came back much higher than the budgeted amount. Saleh will be the design engineer for the plant while Providence/GSE will oversee the design and construction, Breaud said.
Once the new plant is built, the old plant will remain in operation for six months to a year while the new plant is being adjusted and operators are trained, Breaud said. After about a year, the old plant will be demolished, Breaud said.
The plant will be able to service up to 30,000 people, Saleh said. The life expectancy of the plant is 50 years, he said.
The council accepted a resolution to change the police department’s pay period to a 14-day, 84-hour period. Law enforcement employees will now receive 26 checks per year instead of 24 checks, Grogan said.
Also at the meeting, Grogan presented a project list of proposed major and minor street repairs in the city totaling $1.11 million. The major street repairs add up to $799,125.60, Grogan said.
Grogan sent an email to The Daily Review this morning saying that he and Police Chief Patrick LaSalle were going to meet today at City Hall to openly discuss a 12 percent pay increase for police department employees with one or more years of employment. The topic was unintentionally left off the agenda at last night’s council meeting, Grogan said.
The approval is solely based upon the competiveness across the parish and surrounding areas, he said.
Grogan has included those officers with less than one year and more than six months based upon an adjusted percentage, he said. The pay increase will fall within the approved 2014-15 budget for salaries, the mayor said.
In other business, the council:
—Approved changing the November council meeting date to Nov. 11.
—Approved changing Halloween Trick or Treating to Oct. 30, the day before Halloween, from 6 to 8 p.m.
—Approved a can shake request for the Knights of Columbus Oct. 10 and Oct. 11.
—Approved a can shake request for Patterson High School’s Project Graduation Oct. 18.
—Approved a can shake request for Patterson High School’s girls’ basketball team Oct. 25.
—Approved a resolution to accept the parish’s hazard mitigation report.
—Approved the August and September council meeting minutes.
—Proclaimed Oct. 17 to Oct. 26 Red Ribbon Week.