City approves water main work

The Green River City Council approved a water improvement project on North 3rd West Street, scheduled to take place later this year.

The project approval was originally tabled by the Council April 7.

According to Council documents, the project originally consisted of the replacement and installation of water mains and other components beneath the street and an adjacent alley.

Mark Westenskow, public works director for the city, said the original project would have run up the street from Railroad Avenue to Flaming Gorge Way, skip over Flaming Gorge Way and continue from a nearby alley to North 2nd West Street.

Westenskow said there was some confusion as to how the alley portion of the work should be approached, saying a trench-less method of waterline replacement was initially called for to minimize impacts in the alley. However, a bid discrepancy caused teh city to rethink the project.

“We just weren’t really comfortable with the way that the discrepancy existed on that aspect of the work,” Westenskow said.

After a bid opening March 12, the city’s risk management team decided to remove the portion of work for the alley, which decreased the engineering estimate and the two bids the city received. Westeksnow said the street portion of the project is a more straight-forward project, saying the discrepancy between bids wasn’t nearly as wide on that portion of the work. The engineering estimate dropped from $460,000 to $263,780 while Jackman Construction’s bid of $229,217.50 decreased to $170,395.50 and Longhorn Construction’s bid decreased from $392,828.50 to $263,780.

The Council approved the Jackman Construction bid.

Westenskow said one of the values of the project will improve the fire hydrant flows in that area. There isn’t a water line between Railroad Avenue and Flaming Gorge Way

“That’s a gap in the system,” he said.

The current system requires all fire flows to feed through the nearby alley to hydrants near the Super 8 Motel. The project will help decrease reliance on older infrastructure for feed those hydrants, tying into what Westenskow described as “bigger and better lines.”

The project is being paid for through the city’s enterprise water fund.

During the discussion, Councilman Mike Shutran asked about potential change orders to the project, saying there were some concerns about change orders. A change order is a request to increase or decrease the budget of a project.

“All of our projects have language built in that address the conditions under which a change order can be granted, Westenskow said.

Westenskow said most of the change orders he’s seen have been additions to projects due to prices allowing for more work to be accomplished than originally scheduled. He also said a number of change orders that have come in during his tenure have been negative change orders, meaning those projects were completed under budget. However, he also said there are times when a project will run into an unforeseen condition that requires more money added to the cost.

Other action

The Council approved an agreement for topographic survey services for planned Americans with Disabilities Act improvements. The project will be funded through a Wyoming Department of Transportation Transportation Alternatives Program grant and will include improvements on a portion of East Teton Boulevard, from Bridger Drive to Alabama Drive. The Council approved spending $5,037.74 and will utilize local engineering firm Inberg-Miller Engineers for the work.