Rocky Top council awards $5.45M contract for sewer system upgrades
Rocky Top’s City Council meets at the City Hall on North Main Street the third Thursday of each month. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
It was the latest step in a multi-year project to eliminate environmental concerns with the system.
City Manager Michael Ellis said there were four bidders for the project, but that the apparent low bid of $4.63 million was not “responsive” to the request for bids, as it did not include all items specified.
As a result, that bid -- by Norris Brothers Excavating of Crossville – was disqualified, and the city chose the next-lowest bidder to get the contract.
The council voted 4-0, with Councilwoman Stacy Phillips absent, to direct Mayor Kerry Templin to sign the contract with Morgan Contracting.
But the winning bid was $1.1 million over the city’s budget for the project, so Rocky Top will be asking for a higher loan amount from the state of Tennessee through the State Revolving Fund loan program to cover the extra cost, Mayor Kerry Templin said.
The city is using a combination of grants and SRF loans to pay for the sewer repairs.
Ellis said the SRF loans come with a 40 percent forgiveness rate, which means the city would have to repay only 60 percent of what is being borrowed.
That means that the additional $1.1 million loan amount would cost the city $660,000 to repay, Ellis said.
But the city also will ask Anderson County about getting some federal grant money the county received through the American Rescue Plan Act.
Rocky Top last April received notice of an additional $1.38 million in assistance to pay for the sewer work with an American Rescue Plan grant through the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.
That money was in addition to other funds transferred from Anderson County, and is meant “to develop a comprehensive asset management plan and address the critical needs of water loss and excessive infiltration and inflow into its sewer system,” the state department said.
Rocky Top plans to use grants and loans to rehabilitate 33,000 linear feet of sewer lines, along with installation of new manholes, Ellis said.
The city is among 43 Tennessee communities to share in the latest round of grants totaling $203.2 million from the state’s ARPA fund.
Tennessee received $3.7 billion from the ARP, and the state’s Financial Stimulus Accountability Group dedicated $1.35 billion of those funds to TDEC to support water projects in communities throughout Tennessee.
In other business Thursday, the council:
• Approved on first reading Ordinance 583, which would amend city code to adopt state traffic offenses and rules of the road for enforcement by city police and dispensation in the Rocky Top City Court.
Under this measure, these cases would be handled by the city judge, rather than being heard in General Sessions Court in Clinton.
• Agreed to apply for a state grant for $18,000 to pay for trees that would be planted to create a “green space” and canopy around the city’s splash pad. Included would be an irrigation system.
The grant would pay the entire cost of the project with no city match required, Ellis said.
• Also agreed to apply for a recreation grant for city parks through the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. The application for funding this year must be submitted by Feb. 22, council members were told.
• Approved a contract for $45,000 to Cannon & Cannon Engineers of Knoxville for additional work on the city’s wastewater treatment plant improvements.
Cannon & Cannon has been the consultant for the sewer projects that are included in the $5.45 million contract the council approved last week.
