Liner work planned at Everly sewage ponds

After a brief lull, work on Everly's wastewater treatment ponds is set to resume.

Engineer Brian Schmidt gave a progress update on July 20 to the city council. He said dirt work on the south cell is basically finished, and the current goal is to have liner work start sometime in mid-August.

"It does feel like a better update than a month ago," Schmidt said. "It'd be nice if they get some of the stuff done that they started before spring just in case we don't have as favorable of weather next year."

Schmidt reported last month that work at the site would likely slow this summer due to the project's contractor, King Construction, moving on to a different job. The news disappointed the council, as favorable weather in the spring allowed work to progress relatively rapidly.

According to Schmidt, Phase 1 of the wastewater lagoon improvement project is mostly finished. The dirt stockpile to complete work is on site and attention has shifted to pipe infrastructure running in and out of the facility.

"It's been pretty slow," Schmidt said of recent progress. "We're just trying to get them to finish as much as they can."

King Construction, of Wall Lake, was awarded the contract last fall after submitting a bid of $3.88 million. The price was approximately $1 million more than the project's estimated price tag; however, the council felt it was left with no choice but to accept the proposal after being forced to rebid the project once before in 2019.

Consequently, the project's completion date was pushed from Dec. 1, 2020 to Oct. 15, 2021. Despite the recent slow down, the council was encouraged by Schmidt's report.

"It's a much better update than last month," said Council Member Tara Patrick.