Lagoon project water use causes concern

RCS, the contractor working on the mandatory upgrading of Moorcroft’s lagoon has to date used more than a million gallons of municipal water. This amounts to only fraction of the water needed and is an issue that had not been considered when the project began.

Heath Turbiville of HDR Engineering explained at a workshop Monday evening that cells one and two each hold around four million gallons. Mayor Dick Claar said of the contractor’s response, “They were a little shocked at how much money that amounted to.”

The two entities had not specifically addressed the price of the water used to refill the cells after dredging and, when Public Works Director Cory Allison opened that discussion up more than a week ago, the contractor was brought up short with the 4 cents per gallon commercial cost.

“They never asked the price per gallon,” Turbiville said, explaining why RCS had not been informed by the engineers.

The contractor has stopped filling the cells to install rip rap (rock around the sides and shores of the cells to maintain structural integrity) and has taken this opportunity to ask the council for a significant discount.

Turbiville warned the council about upsetting the contractor: “They have, so far, been good to work with. I think they’ve been pretty reasonable for what they’ve asked for on change orders so I’d hesitate on trying to get everything you absolutely can back out of them in case we have something that changes and they are trying to get it back again toward the end of the project. That’s the only thing I want to bring up for your consideration.”

Councilman Dale Petersen replied that, with the current change orders, the cost of the project has reached, “$8 or $9 million at this point. It’s a two-way street and so far, it’s been a one-way street”.

The mayor, however, agreed with Turbiville: “I’m not saying they will, but they could stick it to us in the future. They’re just asking for a rate decrease from 4₵; they didn’t anticipate that kind of money. I don’t want to be greedy about the thing.”

In comparison, other municipalities charge fractions of a cent per gallon so the much higher cost in Moorcroft was not something the company anticipated.

Councilman Ben Glenn stated his comfort with a discount, saying, “I think everybody got thrown into a bad situation. I’ve spent a little more time out there and understand a little more.”

After transitioning from the workshop to the regular meeting and further discussion, Glenn expressed his thoughts about the concern Claar expressed about “getting crossways with them.”

He stated, “That’s why we have good engineering staff. We need to give and take a little bit and I’ve said from the very beginning of this project, they’ve done all the taking.”

With some further discussion, the governing body voted to charge RCS 2.5₵ per gallon, three to one. This amount is a half cent more than the residential rate.