The Grants Pass City Council appears ready to move forward with building a new water treatment plant in the coming year at a guaranteed maximum price of just over $113 million.
During its Monday workshop session, Public Works Director Jason Canady said the guaranteed price of $113,124,314 is the base price for design and construction. However, that does not include some other factors that could eventually raise the final cost of the largest municipal project in city history substantially higher.
Canady said the project team was able to lower the March 2023 base price of more than $117 million with design changes that make the new plant more efficient. For instance, there will be one main building instead of two which will lower costs for construction, pipelines and electricity.
According to Canady, there is a "pretty high likelihood" that the City of Grants Pass will receive a $50 million BRIC grant for the project from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). However, the federal agency has some requirements that could raise the total cost to as much as $148 million. Financing partners for the project are Business Oregon and Oregon Emergency Management.
The Oregon Health Authority's Drinking Water Program has given its initial approval for the project, but there are several small steps that need to take place before ground can be broken on the project next spring. There will be a total of 58 bid packages for the work and priority will be given to local contractors.
In other business, the City Council discussed a grant to help the Mobile Integrative Navigation Team (MINT) buy the Parker Place property to create a year-round shelter for the unhoused population. A closed-door executive session will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday prior to the Council's regular meeting to discuss the specifics.
