Council awards Commercial Street lift‑station contract; approves engineering amendment

The Leavenworth City Council voted to accept the low responsive bid and authorize the mayor to sign a construction contract for the Commercial Street lift‑station phase 1 project, contingent on completion of required right‑of‑way certification.

Staff told the council that bids opened March 11 and that Strider Construction was the lowest responsive bidder at roughly $2.8 million (the staff motion recommended authorization for $2,851,781.70 including sales tax). "We have opened bids on March 11, and Strider Construction was the low bid," staff said, noting federal funding on the project requires additional right‑of‑way steps before execution.

The council also approved an amendment (Amendment No. 8) to the city's umbrella engineering agreement to add construction engineering and inspection services at a corrected amount of $140,900. Staff explained the high level of inspection is needed because the lift station is specialized and will require careful submittal reviews and equipment coordination. "One of the reasons is the lift station is fairly complicated; it's kind of a specialized construction," staff said.

Council members probed the split between construction supervision costs and construction contract costs and discussed contingency planning for traffic control and material lead times. Staff said the project is largely funded through a mix of loan and grant and that the current phase represents the tail end of multi‑phase work.

Both motions (the engineering amendment and the construction award) were moved, seconded and approved. The construction award was authorized contingent on completion of right‑of‑way certification and the mayor's execution of the contract.