Landfill construction, closure project $115,000 under budget

Posted 4/11/01

Landfill construction, closure project $115,000 under budget

By Danielle Strenke

Construction of Phase 4 of the Mora landfill, and closure of Phase 2 will start in May, at a cost that is $115,000 under the budgeted amount for the project.

The East Central Solid Waste Commission voted Monday, April 9 to approve the awarding of a bid on the project to Landwehr Construction, Inc., based in St. Cloud. The companyís bid of almost $595,000 was under the commissionís projected cost of the project at nearly $710,000.

A total of eight bids were received on the projectñ Landwehr Construction re-turned the lowest bid. Bids from other construction companies ranged from $611,000 up to $913,000.

The majority of the $595,000 total will be spent on the construction of Phase 4, at a total cost of $417,800.

ìItís nice to have so many bids come in, and coming in under budget is always good,î Executive Director Allen Bonini said.

The commission asked about the timeline for construction of the new phase of the landfill, and closure of Phase 2.

ìOnce they are notified of the awarding of the contract, Landwehr will be able to begin May 15, after load restrictions are lifted from the roads,î Bonini said. He said Landwehr will have a deadline of mid-July to finish the construction project, and early August to complete the closure.

The project will come as the ECSWC internalizes operations of the Mora landfill. The commission also approved the posting of advertisements to fill two heavy equipment operator positions, in preparation of taking over the daily operations.

Bonini also told the commission that is would be necessary to purchase or lease an additional bulldozer for the landfill. The commission currently has three bulldozers ñ two Caterpillar dozers and one John Deere. He said one of the CAT models would be offered as a trade-in, depending on options available.

After the construction project came in under budget, Bonini said that would free up some cash for the leasing of the bulldozer. He told the board he would like to draft a proposal that stated the commission would either purchase or lease the bulldozer, and see what kind of numbers came out.
ìWould you get as low a bid if you went with that option, or just said we want to buy,î Isanti County Commissioner George Larson said.

Bonini told him that it should simply give them the knowledge of costs for a program to buy or lease the equipment. All of the lease programs they currently have on equipment, he said, have the option to buy the equipment for $1 at the end of the lease term.

ìWe basically own that equipment already,î he said. He would anticipate that they could secure the same lease option on the new bulldozer.
Larson asked how many companies would bid. ìJohn Deere probably, Volvo,î Pine County Commissioner Alan Hancock said.

Bonini asked the commission for authorization to submit the specifications for bids. The commission felt a more aggressive timeline was needed, to have the bulldozer up and running by its July 1 start-up of operations.

ìThe bid may not be awarded until the June meeting that way,î Larson said.

Hancock motion to give Bonini authority to secure bids, which will be brought back to the commission at its May 14 meeting for final approval.

In other business, the council:

ï Reviewed the February financial statement, showing a net income of $54,559. It also showed that solid waste volumes coming into the landfill increased by 10.9 percent over February 2000.