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| By Courtney Llewellyn Reminder Assistant Editor WILBRAHAM When the Board of Selectmen opened the proposals for the Main Street Sewer Expansion project, they ranged in cost from $3,654,213 to $6,653,530. The three lowest bidders are currently being considered by Dennis Obie, the senior engineer at Weston & Sampson Engineers Inc. in Rocky Hill, Conn., the firm that designed the project. Albanese D & S Inc. of Dracut, Mass., were the lowest bidders on the 1.3-mile long sewer expansion, which will continue the sewer line down Main Street from Memorial School to the entrance of Minnechaug Regional High School and Mile Tree School. Some of the side streets jutting off Main Street will receive sewer service as well, including Crane Park Drive and the Wilbraham Public Library. The next lowest bidders for the project were Baltazar Contractors in Ludlow and Cape Ann Equipment in Gloucester, Mass. Once Obie is done reviewing the bids, they will be turned over to the town's Department of Public Works (DPW) Director Ed Miga, who will then make a recommendation to the Board of Selectmen, according to James Thompson, chair of the board. Both Obie and Miga were pleased with the low bids, as original estimates said the project would cost $4.6-5 million. Last May, the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee outlined recommendations as to how to pay for the project. Some money would be put up front while the rest would be borrowed from the state, the town and financed by the city of Springfield. Betterment fees from all the new sewer hook-ups, including properties on Faculty Street, the beginning of Monson Road and Miles Morgan Court, among others, are expected to offset some of the cost of the project. "Minnechaug was the trigger needed for this project," Miga told Reminder Publications. The school has been discharging too much water into its septic systems of which there are four, according to Miga and the problem "didn't just occur overnight." "The DEP [Department of Environmental Protection] has been monitoring the school's use and found that Wilbraham & Monson Academy was also a large user of septic systems. They recommended a move to sewer," Miga explained. Minnechaug and the Academy combined discharge 15,000 gallons a day, according to the DPW director. As both schools continue the expand, the need for a sewer system grew as well. "We're fortunate to be in a period of time for reasonable construction bids," Miga said. "There is a good bidding climate in the state." He added that he expects the project to go through two construction seasons, with most of the work being done during the summer when school is out and the ground water tables are lower. Miga said he is happy with the sewer plan, which he helped put together with the consultants at Weston & Sampson. One of the highlights of the plan is having it built under Academy property instead of under Main Street so there will be less road construction, both during and after the project. A town pump station will also be located on Academy land. "This project has a lot of benefits to the center of town," Miga noted. "The cost is a little painful now but it will pay for itself soon." "It's a very extensive project," Thompson said. "The lower prices are very optimistic, though." Obie told the selectmen at their April 14 meeting that a decision on which contractor will be hired for the project will be made by their next meeting on April 28. The town needs to have its recommendation to the DEP by May 1, according to Miga. The DEP will then choose whether or not to grant approval to the project. |