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WEIRTON -- The planned expansion project for Weirton's water treatment plant has a new obstacle to overcome after the Weirton Area Water Board determined the bids received were too high.
The Water Board convened in special session Wednesday morning, voting to reject the two bids received in order to reconfigure and rebid the project aimed at doubling the plant's treatment capacity.
"A project like this has many layers," explained Utilities Director A.D. "Butch" Mastrantoni. "It's pretty complex."
According to Jesse Alden, of the Thrasher Group, a bid opening on the project, currently designed to expand the water treatment plant from a capacity of 4 million gallons per day to 8 million gallons per day, was held Feb. 1, with two bids received. A certified bid tabulation was completed Feb. 5, he said, both representing a bid overrun of the board's budget for the project.
Mastrantoni noted the board had received grants and other funding from various state and federal governmental entities, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the West Virginia Water Development Authority and the West Virginia Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council. The board, he said, wants to make certain it is a good custodian of those funds and their use with the expansion project.
Since the bid opening, Mastrantoni explained, the professional group put together to offer guidance on the expansion project has been meeting regularly to discuss options in order to move forward.
"The group got together and attempted to reconfigure the project," Mastrantoni said.
According to Alden, as part of plans to rebid the project, a legal advertisement will run on March 8 and March 15, with a pre-bid meeting scheduled for March 26 and a bid opening on April 10.
Prior to the discussion, board legal counsel Dan Guida asked board Vice Chair Don Gianni, who was participating by telephone, to disconnect from the call, noting Gianni's company, James White Construction, has been involved with the project. As such, Gianni did not participate in the vote.
No questions or comments were accepted from the public, which primarily was comprised of potential bidders.
Earlier this month, the Weirton Sanitary Board moved forward on its own expansion project, awarding its bid to Triton Construction of St. Albans, W.Va., which submitted a bid of $37,213,000.