Posted on May 6, 2019
LA VALLE — Three companies were announced as potential selections for the Lake Redstone’s estimated $7 million sediment removal project at an April 23 special meeting at La Valle Town Hall.
Kalyuh Services and Water Works Marine Inc. was the lowest bid announced at $3.2 million. Bids for Dredgit Environmental Corporation were at $4.8 million and Newt Marine Services came in at $6.3 million. The bid for Kalyuh Services and Water Works Marine Inc and Newt Marine Services includes hydraulic and mechanical dredging. The bid for Dredgit Environmental Corporation only involves hydraulic dredging.
The board analyzed the bids and approved proceeding with the dredging proposal at a special meeting held April 25 at La Valle Town Hall. The board will present the information at a special voters meeting for taxpayers to authorize the protection district to raise taxes and borrow funds for the 25 bay dredging project. The special voters meeting is at 9 a.m. May 18 at the Cal Center in Reedsburg.
Chairman Mike Mittelstadt said in a follow up interview April 29 the board did not select a company April 25 because it had not received references for Water Works at the time of the meeting, instead receiving them the next day. The board and advisor Aryes Associates will review the references and talk with the dredging companies before selecting a potential company from the list of bidders. Kalyuh and Dredgit submitted their reference as a part of the bid process, Mittelstadt said.
“It’s like a job reference…,” Mittelstadt said. “It’s all the typical things you would do if you are hiring a contractor, you want to make sure they can do what they said they can do.”
After the board reviews the references, it will consider awarding the bid for the dredging project. Mittelstadt said the board plans on selecting a company prior to the May 18 meeting, either at its May 14 regular board meeting or calling a special board meeting.
“We hope to do that sooner rather than later,” Mittelstadt said.
Mittelstadt said a mill rate will be calculated once a company is selected, interest rate from banks and a contingency amount is added. The contingency budgets more money for additional costs, like removing debris and possible additional sediment, Mittelstadt said.
The last time Lake Redstone was dredged was in 1983 when 10 bays were dredged. Three companies bid on Lake Redstone’s dredging project last June, when it proposed removing 106,000 cubic yards of sediment from 26 bays. The board rejected the bids to look at cost saving options with the project. The board eliminated one bay as another cost saving method because it contained four cubic yards of sediment.
The board reduced over 10,000 cubic yards of sediment by changing the dredging depth of each bay in the recent round of bids. Mittelstadt said the base bid contains a dredging depth of five feet for each of the 25 bays, removing a total of 81,000 cubic yards of sediment. An alternate bid of 14,000 cubic yards removes six feet of sediment from two bays on the northeast and northwest channels of the lake because it’s where the most sediment enters.
“It will prolong the time until we have to dredge again,” Mittelstadt said.
Mittelstadt said the amount includes additional sediment dumped into the lake because of the 2018 floods. The board is seeking reimbursement funds from FEMA to remove the additional 30,000 cubic yards of sediment. Mittelstadt said the board is about a week or two away from submitting the FEMA application. It may be another 8-12 weeks before the board receives information on any potential funds, he said.
Other business
The board tabled a $4,000 bid from Prestige Landscaping in Reedsburg for repairs to a weir in Swallow Bay, the east side of the lake, at the April 25 meeting. Mittelstadt said the board tabled the bids because state statute requires protection districts to go through a bidding process for any work over $2,500. He said the board will ask Prestige to give a reduced scope estimate not to exceed $2,500. The bay’s rocks help trap sediment and were shifted during the 2018 floods, he said.
Source: wiscnews.com
