In a 5-0 vote at its meeting on Aug. 3, the Healdsburg City Council awarded a $2,045,642 construction contract to Argonaut Constructors Inc. for the College Street sewer and water main replacement project. The approved contract allows for a 15% construction contingency if needed.
The project will replace the sewer and water systems in Fitch Street between North and Piper Street, Piper between Fitch and College Street and at College between Piper and Lincoln Streets. In addition, the curb ramps in those areas will be updated and the streets will be repaved.
“This area of town has some really old infrastructure,” said public works director, Larry Zimmer. “Much of it was installed in the 1920s and is well past its expected life.”
Zimmer said they’ll replace the water and sewer mains with larger pipes to allow for better flow and use.
“It not only reduces the maintenance and repair costs, but it improves flow and the general use for everyone,” Zimmer said.
When the city advertised for project bids, the lowest bid was from Argonaut. According to the agenda item report, “The other bids received ranged from the apparent second low bid of $2,327,141 to a high bid of $3,256,666.”
Zimmer said the low bid was higher than the engineer’s estimate of $1,858,000 by approximately 10%. According to the agenda report this can be attributed to the variability in pricing of projects during the uncertainty of COVID-19.
The project will be funded with $850,861 from the city’s water fund, $633,774 from the wastewater fund and $572,540 from the Gas Tax Fund.
Councilmember David Hagele asked if the city should expect a 15% contingency going forward on projects that involve digging down underground. Zimmer said it can depend on the size of the project as well as the type of underground work involved.
Councilmember Joe Naujokas asked if the project will interfere with the PG&E gas utility upgrade work that’s slated to take place this fall.
“We do coordinate with them as best we can and the project manager and senior engineer, Clay Thistle has been coordinating with them for some time long before we started this project. We’ll tell them what projects we have scheduled and they’ll tell us what projects they have scheduled,” Zimmer said.
