Patterson water plant bids exceed budget

The water treatment plant has been delayed by higher than budgeted bids that require the city to make modifications to the construction plans and rebid the project, Mayor Rodney Grogan said Tuesday night at the city council meeting.
The lowest of the two bids the city received was $10.1 million, well above the $8.1 million the city had budgeted for the construction of a state-of-the-art plant, Grogan said. By removing some “bells and whistles” that could be added at a later date, Grogan hopes to lower the cost by about $1.5 million.
In taking out features that make the plant nearly completely automated, and other changes, the city hopes to get a bid closer to what it has budgeted, Grogan said. Anything more than budgeted could likely be found through other means, he said.
The modified plans were submitted to the United States Department of Agriculture, which must approve significant changes to the project as a condition of its financial assistance. The city has received a $3.73 million, 40-year loan from the USDA, and a $700,000 grant from the USDA for construction of the plant.
Grogan expects approval from the department to take about two weeks.
The city expected construction and all the other associated costs including design, engineering and other things to be about $9.4 million. When the project was in its initial stages it was thought to cost about $5 million.
The council approved about $5 million in bonds from Patterson State Bank and Morgan City Bank in 2011.
The council approved an ordinance in March 2013 to authorize the city to issue another $4.6 million of bonds for construction of the water plant.
“I am not going back to the citizens and ask for another $2 million,” Grogan said Tuesday night as he explained why the city needed to reject the bids submitted for the project under the design that is approved.
Regarding the conditions on U.S. 90, Grogan announced a July 15 letter from William Oliver, district engineer administrator of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, addressing Grogan’s June request for traffic signals at three intersections on the highway. The letter that safety and efficiency improvements will be better accomplished with the placement of J-turns and the closure or reconfiguration of median openings during interim improvements as the highway is raised to interstate standards.
Surveying work on the projects began July 7, the letter stated.
“We will let the project at the earliest possible time considering engineering and funding,” Oliver said in the letter. The project “will be phased such that the most critical intersections are constructed first, specifically those in the Patterson area.”
In other business before the council:
—Anthony Thibodeaux said for the first time since before the 1950s the citizens of St. Mary Parish will have the opportunity to vote for a judge in Division A of the 16th Judicial District. The powers-that-be have always selected a candidate for judgeships in most of the divisions in the district and then strongly discouraged any candidate from running against their selected person, Thibodeaux said. This is not a process that gives 82,000 registered voters a choice and he wants to change that, he said.
“For the first time in your lives, you will have an opportunity to vote on who holds this very powerful position,” Thibodeaux said. “I want to make sure this position is selected by the voters, not selected by a few people.”
Thibodeaux’s opponent in the Nov. 4 election will be Dean Wattigny, brother of outgoing Judge Gerard Wattigny.
—Ulyess Boudreaux of Kemper Street was assured by Patterson Police Chief Patrick LaSalle that his concerns regarding loud mufflers and boom boxes on his street will be addressed. Grogan told him that his concern over the condition of the roads and how they affect citizen’s vehicles was being addressed by the city. Grogan said he shared his sentiments about the roads needing to be fixed.
“I drive on the road you live on every day and the road I live on is bad, too,” Grogan said. “If I wasn’t mayor, I would sue the city” over the condition of the roads.
—Losing-2-Win-Again was given approval for its second 5K walk through Patterson in an effort to raise funds to continue a clinic for obese children. The walk date is Sept. 27 and will begin at 8 a.m.
—The council accepted a Hausmann Park Survey report prepared by city and school board engineers to define the boundaries of the 300-foot-by-300-foot parcel of land near the junior high school.
—A construction contract with Byron Talbot, of Thibodaux, was accepted for construction bids on the Willow Street sewers, Taft Street to Martin Luther King Avenue, with the stipulation that a deductive change order be made, netting a contract price of $204,936.
—Miller Engineering was selected as the engineering firm for the gravity sewer project along Progresso Road for $114,840.
—A bid of $6,900 was accepted for a surplus Bobcat excavator from Duhon Machine.