Greenfield manager describes $31M procurement, major cost increase and related design funding for proposed wastewater plant

City Manager Paul Wood said Greenfield's March 12, 2024 council meeting included a resolution asking the council to approve a procurement agreement in excess of $31,000,000 to purchase a packaged membrane bioreactor (MBR) wastewater treatment system and to authorize the city manager to enter an agreement that would lock the equipment and installation price.

Wood told viewers that earlier estimates for a full new wastewater treatment plant had been $30–$40 million but that inflation and an expanded project scope have increased expected cash outlays to exceed $90,000,000 over the next five to seven years. He said it had been the city's expectation that the state of California would fund the project 100%; he also said the procurement agreement includes language allowing the city not to proceed if the state does not provide the intended 100% funding.

As part of the same resolution Wood said the council was being asked to appropriate $150,000 in supplemental funds to complete the design phase and the environmental study for the proposed plant. Wood further summarized an additional request for a $647,037 contract amendment with design firm HydroScience to cover added scope of services required to complete final design; he said funding for that amendment would come from federal ARPA funds the city received after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wood also explained a separate supplemental appropriation for public works that was initially listed in staff materials as $227,900; the council, he said, amended the resolution language to correct the appropriation to $124,700 after determining the line items did not add up to the higher total.

Wood noted the last agenda item was a closed session regarding "a Brown Act demand to cure and correct" from Andrew Sandoval; he said there was nothing he could comment on because it was closed session. The summary did not report formal vote counts, motion text, the names of makers/seconders, or final disposition for the procurement resolution and related design requests. The summary therefore records the council-level requests and a corrective amendment to the public-works appropriation but does not confirm whether the procurement or the contract amendment were formally approved.