Warner Robins wastewater treatment expansion delayed

WARNER ROBINS — The expansion of the city's wastewater plant has taken almost a year longer to complete than expected. On Monday, the contractor will ask City Council for more time to get the job done.

The Haskell Co., based in Florida, was hired in February 2012 to oversee the $28.5 million expansion of the Sandy Run Water Pollution Control Plant. The project was expected to be completed in December 2014, but several delays have resulted in extensions of the completion date.

"(The Haskell Co.) is requesting 30 to 60 days extension for total completion of the project," said Montie Walters, director of Warner Robins' utility department. "We've already had some delays. It was mainly rain delays, you know, with the weather for the last three years."

Unforeseen subsurface conditions also contributed to the delay. The wastewater treatment plant is about 50 years old, and "you don't always have everything mapped out of what's underground," Walters said.

"The Haskell Co. started digging to put in some big tanks that were like 30 (feet) deep and we found some 48-inch pipes that were part of an old project," he said. "That wasn't in the scope of work to pull out and recompact the dirt and all that."

The extension and related expenses will cost the city an extra $928,000 should City Council agree to grant it.

Councilman Tim Thomas said he's not happy about the projected increase.

"We had a guaranteed price contract plus there was a built-in contingency," Thomas said. "I've got to have some answers before I'm willing to vote on that. Some of their increases may be justified, (but) some, I think they are not."

Thomas said he didn't know where the money would come from to pay the extra cost.

Councilman Chuck Shaheen, who was mayor at the start of the expansion, said he's eager to hear an explanation for the increase.

"This isn't $150,000 we can take from the general fund," Shaheen said. "You're looking at a million bucks. How can you be a million bucks off?"

Walters said the major equipment and infrastructure at the plant are operational, but minor details like landscaping have been a challenge.

"They're just doing the cleanup and getting little small details that they see that need to be done," Walters said. "There's some minor things like running some computer lines and running some cable."

The upgrade will increase the facility's current capacity by a third, allowing for a capacity of 12 million gallons per day instead of 9 million.

"If we have a lot of commercial, residential and industrial growth, instead of raising the taxes, we could probably actually either keep taxes the same or lower them because there will be more people helping pay. Also, it provides (room for) growth ... You can't grow without sewer. If you don't have a sewer connection to hook up to, you can't really build nowadays."

City Council will hear an update from the Haskell Co. on Monday at its 4:30 p.m. pre-council meeting at City Hall, 700 Watson Blvd.

ANNEXATION UPSET

Eleven properties in The Willow subdivision recently were approved by the planning and zoning board for annexation into the city. But some residents said they were unaware of the 1990s-era covenant permitting the change.

City Council is scheduled to talk about incorporating the properties, which are off Ga. 96 on Willow Bend, in Monday's pre-council meeting.

"It's going to be pretty heated," Assistant City Attorney Kristi Minor predicted. "There were a ton of people at the (planning and zoning) meeting."

The former property owner or developer agreed that if the city provided utility services, when the property became contiguous, it would be incorporated into the city.

"That was back in 1992 or 1993, and these people weren't aware of it," Minor said.

Also Monday, the council is expected to vote on:

Contracting with Public Safety Corp. to manage the recently adopted false alarm ordinance.

Hiring a fourth code enforcement official.

Finalizing an intergovernmental agreement to create a tax allocation district.

To contact writer Laura Corley, call 744-4334 or follow her on Twitter @Lauraecor.

This story was originally published October 18, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Warner Robins wastewater treatment expansion delayed ."