Council awards bids for treatment plant, OK's purchase of scoreboard

By Patrick Fisher, Staff Writer

The New Prague City Council unanimously awarded the bid for the construction of the city's new Wastewater Treatment Plant during its Monday meeting.

The six bids had been presented at the council's Monday, July 21, meeting with Rice Lake Construction Group of Deerwood presenting the lowest bid at just under $30 million, high bid for the facility was approximately $33 million. The low bid was six percent more than the estimated $28 million for the project.

At the July 21 meeting, Bob Brown of the engineering firm of Bolton & Menk, Inc., explained that rebidding for the project would not provide any cost savings since there have been increasing costs in fuels and other areas that have affected the construction industry.

Rice Lake Construction has been in the construction business for 24 years and specializes in water and wastewater treatment facilities. It also recently completed a similar wastewater treatment facility for the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community.

On the related topic of a new manager for the city's Wastewater Treatment Plant, New Prague City Administrator Mike Johnson said there was going to be further discussion about the position before a decision was made.

Baseball scoreboard

The council unanimously approved the purchase of a new scoreboard at the Memorial Park baseball field.

Ken Ondich, acting New Prague City Planner, explained that the current scoreboard, which is more than 20 years old, is beyond repair and needs to be replaced. The New Prague Baseball Association had met with the New Prague Park Board in June about replacing the scoreboard.

The consensus from a meeting between then city administrator Jerry Bohnsack, New Prague Public Works Director Dennis Seurer, Councilmember Kay Wilcox and Ondich was that the city could pay for 50 percent of the device, or $6,000, which ever is less. The money would come from the city's general fund. The baseball association would pay the remaining cost.

The baseball association will pay for its portion over a three-year period. The money would come from team fees received each spring in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

The city obtained two quotes for the scoreboard, which were $15,250 from Aim Electronics and $16,588 from Gopher, both quotes included tax and delivery. Ondich said city staff recommended the quote from Aim Electronics. The city will pay $6,000 with the baseball association paying $9,250.