Salado aldermen approved a $490,550 contract with Kasberg, Patrick and Associates, LP (KPA) for the final design, bidding, construction administration, special services and on-site representation for the Wastewater Treatment Plant and Effluent Pump Station and Pipeline.

According to a May 2 letter from Rick Kasberg, the Opinion of Probably Construction Cost (OPCC) for the Wastewater Treatment Plant is $3,675,000, a number that caused aldermen Fred Brown to grill Kasberg prior to voting against the motion.

“We were told that it was going to cost about $1 million per 100,000 gallons per day of capacity,” Brown said, “and now we are looking at $3.6 million for a 200,000 gallon plant.”

“What’s it going to cost us to go from 200,000 to 300,000 gallons?” Brown questioned Kasberg.

Kasberg said that the cost to increase to 300,000 gallon per day capacity would be between $500,000 and $1 million. in his opinion.

Alderman Amber Preston-Dankert asked Kasberg if the estimated costs would have been lower if the board had “moved forward much earlier” than it did because negotiations with Sanctuary began.

In addition to the $3.7 million treatment plant, the project will include $403,000 for an effluent pump station and 2,000 pipeline to deliver the effluent from the plant on the northern part of the Sanctuary development to a dry season creek near the south side of the property.

The design services contract is divided into Basic Services and Special Services for the WWTP and Basic Services and Special Services for the Effluent Pump Station and Pipeline.

Final Design Services for the WWTP total $275,600, including $220,600 in civil engineering to KPA, $20,000 in structural enginerring to Winton Engineering and $35,000 in electrical engineering to McCreary & associates.

Bidding services are $11,500 and construction administration is $72,000. Construction staking totals $14,350.00 to All County Surveying.

Special Services of $67,000 for WWTP include $12,000 for geotechnical investigations by Langerman Foster Engineering,  material testing of $10,000 to Langerman Foster, on-site representation of $42,000 and electrical engineering services for Stagecoach WWTP of $3,000.

Basic and Special Services for the Effluent Pump Station and Pipeline total $50,100.

“To say that I am disappointed is….” Brown said, “I am just shocked that this big of a mistake has been made. I would never have expected that out of you (KPA). We have been dealing with this for a long time with a lot of discussion.”

“Part of it falls on us as we took so long to give him a location,” Preston-Dankert said.

Aldermen approved the contract with Brown voting against.