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Chester City Council approves bid for water plant paint job

Posted April 20, 2015 11:00 pm

By Pete Spitler The Herald Tribune

CHESTER -- As part of its regular session on Monday, the Chester City Council approved a bid from Alton-based Quality Assured Industrial Coatings for the painting project at the Chester Water Treatment Plant.

The project will treat and repaint areas of the plant that are affected by rust and flaking paint. The bid of $117,100 was approved, as well as a separate $30,000 amount for any additional "worst-case scenario" costs.

An alternate bid included $21,000 in cleanup fees.

"That was in case we decided to have them clean it up," said Water Treatment Plant Superintendent Tim Crow. "But for that kind of money, me and my guys, along with some help from (Street Department Superintendent) Randy (Eggemeyer), we are going to do the cleanup ourselves.

"It's going to take a little work, and some time, but we can get it."

Crow said the worst-case scenario costs will cover any damages incurred during sandblasting.

"When they go do the sandblasting, we have no way of knowing how many holes they're going to blow in the filters or what kind of damage they're going to do in sandblasting," he said. "We have to allow enough money over the original bid for welding."

Chester Mayor Tom Page said the project's cost was initially estimated at $200,000.

"We're way under bid here," he said.

Crow said he did not yet know a timeframe when the project would begin. In previous comments to the Herald Tribune, Crow said sections of the 17-year-old facility will be curtained off during sandblasting to prevent the dust from affecting the water supply.

In other action, the council approved two agenda items pertaining to the Chester Fire Department. The council approved $6,796.20, after trade-in, to replace six Maxiforce airbags and $7,266 to upgrade seven air packs.

The airbags, which are different sizes, are used during vehicle extrications. The air packs are being upgraded, rather than purchased new, to save on cost.

"In the past, we've tried to get a couple of grants to get these airbags in place," said Chester Fire Chief Marty Bert. "The grant approved the fire gear that we got, but denied the airbags.

"The airbags have a life of 10 years and ours are going on 20 years, so they do need to be replaced."

Bert said he had the money for the airbags in his department's budget. The CFD's current airbags are being traded in to bring the cost down.

In regard to the air packs, Bert said he is having a hard time getting parts for them due to age.

"If we upgrade those packs to 2002 standards, it will give us a couple of more years of service out of them," he said. "A new air pack today is $7,000 each, so if we wanted to replace them, it would be like $50,000.

"We thought the better option this time would be to upgrade them and get five or six more years out of them."

Roundup

In his report, Page congratulated recently re-elected Alderman Russ Rader and Alderwoman Nancy Crossland on their successful and professional campaigns. After mentioning Ray Allison and Donnie Clark, who both ran unopposed in the April 7 election, Page said he was looking forward to working with all four on the council.

The council approved the $5,000 budget request of River City Renewal, LLC for 2015 by a 7-1 vote. Clark was the lone "no" vote.

The council ratify the action of the Chester Gas and Public Property Committee in purchasing natural gas futures.

The council approved line item appropriation adjustments within funds according to state statue.

The council also moved some money around. A transfer of $150,000 of residual equity was made from the Natural Gas Fund to the General Fund. A total of $200,000 was set aside in the General Fund for retirement and post-employment benefits and a transfer of $50,000 of residual equity was made from the Natural Gas Fund to the Fire Protection Fund.

Chester City Clerk Nancy Eggemeyer said the transfers were budgeted to occur this fiscal year.

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