By Martin J. Kidston
The Havre City Council met Monday night in city hall to vote on an engineers recommendation concerning bids for the water treatment plant.
The city council approved unanimously a recommendation by Carollo Engineers to reject each of the five bids received for the Water Treatment Plant Upgrade and Improvement Project.
City Engineer Ron Bastin told the council the project bids were opened on Sept. 16 and have remained under advisement of Carollo Engineers since that time. After review, Bastin said Carollo Engineers recommended that each of the five bids be rejected.
They were all too high, Bastin said. They werent within our budget.
Carollo Engineers and the city have set the estimated project cost at $5.5 million with $300,000 to spare in contingency. However, the lowest lump-sum bidder was Williams Brothers, who offered $7.7 million, nearly $2 million more than the estimated costs. On the opposite end, Sletten Construction was the highest at $9 million, over by nearly $4 million.
Havre Mayor Phyllis Leonard read a letter from the United States Postal Service thanking the city for its participation in the Celebrate the Century postal event.
The celebration was capped by the arrival of the train dubbed the Century Express, which depicted the evolution of the mail service. The train made two stops in Montana during the event and chose Havre as one of them. The postal service gave the city a framed picture to commemorate the celebration.
In other council news, Housing Program Project 29, which allows housing rehabilitation funds under the First Time Homebuyers Assistance Program, was approved by the council. The loan was for $8,034 at six percent interest for 15 years. Monthly payments on the loan will be $67.80.
The council also passed Resolution 3294. The resolution authorizes the transfer of remaining funds from the Drug Awareness Resistance Program, or DARE, into the citys general fund.
The next city council meeting will be held on Oct. 18 at 8 p.m.
