Costs mount for sewage plant

Spokesmen for Triad Associates gave the Cloverdale Town Council specific information regarding $113,000 in change orders to the wastewater treatment plant the town contracted with them and Bowen Engineering in a special session of the council Tuesday night.

The original cost of the project was $2.7 million, but a dispute between Triad and the council over whether the construction of the facility should be composed of masonry or should have been of the pole barn variety led to much of the confusion over the cost overruns.

Triad spokesmen Duane Anderson and Mike Hunter claimed that the town gave them the go-ahead for a masonry building at the May 8, 2007 council meeting. Council member Dennis Padgett had a different recollection of the May meeting, offering that he remembered the council voted 3-2 to use pole barn construction. Council minutes of the meeting were not specific enough to confirm either claim, with Town Attorney Alan Yackey suggesting that the recorded transcripts of the meeting would need to be reviewed in order to verify exactly what was discussed.

Council President Don Sublett had opened the discussion with Triad at the beginning of the meeting by informing them that, "we (Cloverdale) just don't have the money," thus prompting the special session to come to an agreement over the additional charges for the plant.

After much deliberation, it was agreed that certain line items from the original contracted facility that had yet to be completed would be deleted, thus saving the town approximately $56,000.

Those items included a portion of the asphalt work and perimeter fencing for the facility. Triad cautioned the council that the Department of Homeland Security requires any municipal utility facility to be fenced in, but suggested that the town might be able to do that work "in house." Council member Padgett offered that the Department of Homeland Security offers grants for perimeter fencing, and suggested that the council look into what was available.

The Cloverdale Town Council regularly meets on the second Tuesday of each mont at 7:00 p.m. at the Town Hall.