Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Whelen Springs accets water bid

Bids were opened at Whelen Springs City Hall on Tuesday afternoon to provide water for approximately 120 rural customers on Kansas Road, in the Vaden Community and on Long Pine Road.

Mayor Terry LeMay said the project has been on the drawing board since 1997.

Bob Robbins, who lives around 12 miles down Kansas Road from Highway 53 out of Gurdon, said people up and down his road "run out of water at times."

"Other times, the water quality is so bad, smelling and all, that you can barely get any use out of it. These people have been patient the last seven years that this project has been talked about, but they need this water," he said.

LeMay said there have been a lot of telephone calls concerning this project and he is glad to see some motion happening. If bids can be qualified and accepted, and the grant or loan on the project can be expanded to pay for the actual bid, construction on the waterline and the tank should being within 45-60 days.

Once started, the waterlines are to be finished within 180 days (about 6 months) and the tank is to be finished within 150 days.

Carl J. Meurer Jr., project engineer from Blaylock Threet Engineers of Little Rock, said the low bid on the 148,000 feet of two to six-inch waterline (approximately 28 miles) came in from Kajacs Construction out of Maumelle. It was for $581,048.30.

The low bid for the 100,000 gallon water tank planned for Kansas Road was for the bolted type and amounted to $102,823.24. That came in from All State Tank Manufacturing out of Grove, Oklahoma.

There were four bids on the waterline and four for the tank; two bidding for welded and two for bolted.

"We will prepare a bid tabulation sheet and certify it, recommending the lowest qualified bidders," Meurer said. "I believe these low bids today will qualify."

After the bid tabulation is compiled, Whelen Springs will call a special City Council meeting to accept the bids so the project can move to the next step. Then it will be up to LeMay and City Council members Dwight Malcom, Chris Malcom, Debra LeMay and Leann Sparks. If they accept the bids, the project will move forward.

Meurer said the engineering estimates were: $481,302.61 for the waterline and $95,000 for the tank.

"We missed it by about $100,000 but we are going into another fiscal year for the federal government and I believe our grant money can be increased," he said.

The project is funded in part by a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, and a loan from the Soil and Water Conservation Commission. The project is being funded by about half grant and half loan.

"The Soil and Water money could go up if we get some more customers for the line or if we agree to charge existing customers more to make up for the construction increase," Meurer said. "Our grant money could go up by 45 percent to cover costs from USDARD."

The engineer said it should take two to three weeks after accepting the bids before another meeting occurs where "we will meet here and issue a notice to proceed." That is when the 45-60 days will occur, just before construction begins.

He said schedule one, that is the waterline installation, can get an extension on the 180 days to complete if the weather does not cooperate.

"If everything stays on schedule, and we get the tank done in the fifth month, it can be used to flush the lines when they are finished so we can do that testing and Health Department samplings," he said.

The water being used actually belongs to Gurdon, according to Meurer. It will flow from the tank at Whelen Springs by way of gravity to Kansas Road. The 28 miles of line will go from Wheelen Springs to the Ouachita River, around 14 miles as the crow flies.

It will hook in at Elia Lane in Whelen Springs, go to the Bethlehem Church down McKenzie Road, then down Kansas Road to the east to the Vaden Community and then onto the river. The line will stop at the river.