Construction of lift stations to pump sewage from Annandale and Maple Lake to a new treatment plant in Albion Township will begin this fall at a cost of $1.1 million. The Annandale-Maple Lake-Howard Lake Wastewater Commission voted Thursday, Aug. 28, to approve a change order adding the lift stations to the contract with plant builder Di-Mar Construction. The action brings plant costs to about $15.2 million, but the total price tag is expected to be about $21 million when a lift station and forcemain are built in Howard Lake. The plant has been under construction south of the two cities at County Road 7 and Highway 105 for a year and is expected to begin operating in May. Annandale will begin pumping waste to the plant and will be followed in a couple months by Maple Lake and then Howard Lake, which joined the partnership in May. Project manager Brad DeWolf of Bolton & Menk engineers told commission members at their monthly meeting in the Annandale City Hall that because work on the lift stations will begin in the fall it won’t require any increase in contract time. The engineer’s estimate to build the stations was $1.2 million, but Di-Mar agreed to do it for $1.1 million, 8 percent below the estimate. "It’s a very good price," he said, and the same people who are working on the plant will build them. The lift stations will be bigger than what the cities are used to, he said. Each will feature three pumps, and an emergency generator at each site will automatically start if there’s a power failure. The Annandale station will be built in the northeast corner of the site where the city’s wastewater treatment ponds are located. The Maple Lake station will be built about 750 feet south of its public works building. DeWolf also gave the commission an update on plant construction. "Things are going good," he said. "We’re happy with the progress." Kuechle Underground has finished testing forcemains it installed from Annandale and Maple Lake to the plant and from the plant to the North Fork of the Crow River, he said. Officials continue to meet with property owners along the route who have concerns about restoration in front of their properties, DeWolf said. Kuechle expects to complete all restoration by the end of September and will be ready to close out the contract within six weeks. In other action, the commission: – Heard from Annandale public works director Joe Haller that a sewer camera approved at the July meeting has been purchased for use by the plant partners in inspecting and locating pipes and finding deficiencies in them. Haller said he bought the camera for $8,500 from Infratech of Rogers. It’s expected to arrive soon, and the cities are using a loaner in the meantime. – Renewed liability coverage from the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust, deciding not to waive liability limits. That means an individual claimant could recover no more than $300,000 on any claim and the total all claimants could recover for a single occurrence would be $1 million. – Approved payment of $743,864 to Di-Mar, $122,691 to Kuechle and $89,909 to Bolton & Menk. DeWolf said the Di-Mar payment brings the total paid to the contractor so far to $6,016,876, which is about 60 percent of the total treatment plant contract not including the lift station costs. – Scheduled the next meeting for 5 p.m Thursday, Sept. 25, in the Maple Lake City Hall.
