Great Falls firm lowest bidder on sewage treatment plant

Dick Anderson Construction Co. of Great Falls is the apparent low bidder for the overhaul to the city of Havre’s wastewater treatment facility.

The firm bid $9,585,130.

That is nearly $1.5 million higher than engineer estimates for the project, and City Public Works Director Dave Peterson said city officials will have to go back and review the project to see if costs can be cut.

Peterson said he was disappointed the bids came in so high.

He and Mayor Tim Solomon will make a recommendation to City Council, but the council will probably not get the suggestions until the first or second meeting in March, he said.

“We’ll have to look it over and see what we can do,” Peterson said.

He said the city wants to approve bids soon so work can begin early in the coming construction season.

The overhaul to the plant was federally mandated to reduce the emissions going into the Milk River.

City officials estimated before the bids came in that sewer rates for Havre homeowners would go up about 40 percent because of the cost of the construction.

Other bidders on the project were:

• Sletten Construction Co. of Great Falls bid $10,836,200.

• RSCI Group of Boise, Idaho, bid $11,052,319

• Cop Construction LLC of Billings bid $11,850,000.