Parkersburg Utility Board approves payments, receives project updates
Employees of Tribute Contracting & Consulting use a temporary patch on Thursday to restore pavement after a water main recently was installed along Ann Street in a Parkersburg Utility Board project. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Parkersburg Utility Board Manager Eric Bennett speaks during Thursday’s PUB meeting at the utility’s offices. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Employees of Tribute Contracting & Consulting use a temporary patch on Thursday to restore pavement after a water main recently was installed along Ann Street in a Parkersburg Utility Board project. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Parkersburg Utility Board Manager Eric Bennett speaks during Thursday’s PUB meeting at the utility’s offices. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
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PARKERSBURG -- The four contracts making up the Parkersburg Utility Board's $19 million water system improvement project are nearly complete, but not as soon as expected.
All pipe has been installed on the small- and large-diameter water main contracts, utility board Manager Eric Bennett told board members during Thursday's meeting. The contractors still have tie-ins and pavement and yard restoration work to finish.
Bennett provided updates on the projects before the board voted 4-0 to approve pay estimates of $264,307.35 to Stonegate Construction Inc. for the small-diameter contract and $379,219.75 to Tribute Contracting & Consultants for the large-diameter effort.
Bennett said the original target completion date for the small-diameter project was in June, while the targeted end date for the large-diameter mains was in July.
Mayor Tom Joyce, the board's chairman, asked if there was a penalty for missing the completion date in the contract. Bennett said that would depend on whether the delays resulted in any damages or additional costs for the board.
"What's the impetus for them being on time?" Joyce said.
"Sometimes that is an arbitrary number where we think it can be done in this amount of time," Bennett said. "Obviously, they agree to that."
Bennett said he has not been given a reason for the delays.
The large-diameter water main project includes installation of a control panel at a booster station at Blizzard Drive and 12th Avenue, but the components aren't expected to be delivered until October, due to supply chain issues.
That also will delay completion of the third contract, an elevated storage tank upgrade by Caldwell Tanks Inc. because the station needs the control panel before it can move water to the tank.
"They're as far as they can go until we can pump water into the tank," Bennett said.
The board approved a payment of $11,680.87 to Caldwell Tanks on a 4-0 vote, as well as $164,388.44 to Orders Construction Inc. on the contract to repair the backwash basin and south reservoir.
The tank is complete, but the contractor is waiting on valves needed for the basin, again due to supply chain issues, Bennett said.
The board also approved pay estimates of $506,622.11 to Triton Construction Inc. for ongoing wastewater treatment plant improvements and $86,261.93 to Dunlap Construction for the extension of water and sewer atop Fort Boreman Hill.
Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.