The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Low bids to construct the Sisters waste treatment facility were accepted by the five-member Sisters City Council on Monday, July 17.

Several key issues, however, remain to be resolved before contracts are prepared. According to City Administrator Barbara Warren, one of the losing bidders has filed a protest over the largest phase of the project.

Warren said that R&G Excavating's low bid of $3,207,500 for the construction of the treatment plant and effluent disposal system is being contested by one of the losing bidders.

Sisters City Attorney Steve Bryant is working to resolve the issue.

Also, the total of all phases bid upon came in approximately $450,000 over the budget estimate of $6.75 million. Dick Nored of HGE Inc., the city's engineer for the project, said he will meet with the principals "to attempt to resolve the differences."

Nored said that, barring any reconciliation of estimates, "the city could elect to go out to re-bid for the phases most over budget."

According to Warren, in the event the "value reconciliation" meetings with the over-budget bidding companies prove unfruitful, the city has another alternative: a contingency fund to cover the difference.

Administrator Warren said the low bids next will be sent with a letter stating the city's "intent to award" to the federal oversight agency, the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utility Service.

The last step before construction begins will be the awarding and signing of the contracts, expected to occur before August 1.

The next round of bidding for the remaining $6 million waste disposal component of the $13 million dollar total project will, according to Warren, "be going out soon."

Construction on the facility, funding for which was approved by city voters in May 1998, is planned to begin later this summer. Completion is expected within 18 months.