Hollister City Council members on Monday are set to consider a
contract with a company that would provide permanent operational
services at the wastewater plant.
Hollister City Council members on Monday are set to consider a contract with a company that would provide permanent operational services at the wastewater plant.
City officials had requested bids for the contracted service after using HydroScience Engineers ever since the plant’s opening in 2008. Four private firms responded, and two were recommended for consideration at a council meeting this week. The lowest estimate came from Veolia Water for $688,176 annually – which would represent a reduction of more than $200,000 each year compared with the current contract for HydroScience.
The other final bid came from CH2M Hill, for about $831,000, but it appears as though council members are set to approve the lowest bid among the two companies deemed most qualified by the staff.
City Manager Clint Quilter noted how the two recommended firms have done most of the contracted operations in California and how it “basically came down to cost.”
After the wastewater plant opened in mid-2008, city officials decided to hire HydroScience – which had been affiliated with the facility’s designer – on an interim basis until figuring out a long-term solution. If Veolia is hired Monday, the city will follow the same tack, only with a different contractor and at a lower cost.
Veolia would handle most operations at the plant, while the city would continue offering some management assistance while paying for supplies and power. The contract also does not include billing services and the city’s program to distribute reclaimed wastewater, according to city documents.
Just including labor costs, Veolia came in with an estimate of $389,784. CH2M’s bid was at $549,356 for labor. And the city estimated that doing it in-house would cost $615,000 for personnel.
The proposed contract is for 10 years, with options for the city of two additional five-year terms. The contract cost would increase based on a cost-of-living adjustment.
To get to this point, the city had established a four-person panel to review the firms. It included engineering official Dennis Rose, county water district Manager Jeff Cattaneo, Seid Vaziry from Gilroy and Jim Heitzman from the Marina Coast Water District.
