News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Construction crews will soon begin hooking up Sisters residences to the sewer system.
The Sisters City Council awarded contracts on Phase III of the sewer project --residential hook-ups -- on Thursday, June 28.
Richard Bartels of Powell Butte won the "Schedule A" contract to work north of Cascade Avenue with a bid of $259,910.16. That bid was $81,598 below engineers' estimates.
Scenic Builders of Myrtle Creek will work on "Schedule B" south of Cascade Avenue. Their bid of $572,945 was $29,445 above engineers' estimates.
The bids in total came in at $52,153 below engineers' estimates.
That savings is a real boon to a project that has experienced cash flow problems. the city had to commit $396,000 in connection fees up front in order to match a grant. Yet the city can't collect those fees until the service is actually on line.
According to engineer Dick Nored of HGE, Inc., the project is running smoothly. Crews have already bored under Highway 20 near Sisters Elementary School and run pipe beneath the roadway. Crews will cross Squaw Creek early in July.
Residential hook-ups will complete the project in the core area of town. The fourth phase of the project -- sewering the Sisters Industrial Park --will follow as soon as the city secures the final $300,000 in funding needed for the project.
The city must come up with that money by September or risk losing a $500,000 grant already committed to that part of the project.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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