By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer
SUAMICO – A low bid of $29,708 from CTW Corporation of De Pere to rehabilitate Suamico’s well No. 3 was approved Monday, Aug. 6 by the village board.
The village’s public works director, Andy Smits, said around $60,000 has been budgeted this year for the rehab project.
“This is kind of Phase I of the project,” he said.
Smits said test pumping and rehabbing of well No. 3 will take place to see if its pumping capacity of 525 gallons per minute could be doubled with well No. 2 not in use because of high radium levels.
The proposed schedule for the well No. 3 rehabilitation calls for substantial completion of the project Sept. 17 and final completion expected Oct. 15 with the time between substantial completion and final completion required to obtain the results of water samples.
Smits said about $7,000 of the $60,000 allocation was previously spent on engineering and project planning, and with additional engineering costs expected, the final total should end up around the budgeted amount.
“From here, we’ll know what we’re looking at for next year,” he said.
Smits said Phase II of the well No. 3 project would involve installing a new pump and motor, which could cost in the neighborhood of $500,000.
Water rate case
In other action, the board approved spending up to $6,000 to have the auditing/accounting firm Schenck complete a state Public Service Commission (PSC) water rate case study for the village.
Jessica Legois, village director of administrative services, informed the board that Suamico’s last water rate increase was approved by the PSC in March 2010.
“As part of the budget process for 2018, we talked about how a rate case would be required in 2018,” she said. “The cash balance was projected to potentially fall short as soon as 2020, and that’s without considering the treatment that might be needed for well No. 3.”
The proposal from Schenck notes the company would prepare an application to increase the village’s water rates in accordance with PSC guidelines and be responsible for requesting the rate application information from the PSC.
Schenck has also offered to be present and testify at the public hearing before the PSC, if requested.
The rate hike filing submitted for approval by the PSC would be discussed beforehand by the firm with village staff and the board.
The company indicated it could begin the process by Sept. 18 with the expectation the application would be completed within four weeks.