Wastewater plant manager urges council to prioritize safety upgrades and roof after $89,000 roof bid

Keokuk City’s wastewater plant manager, Tom, presented a list of safety and capital needs during the Jan. 25 budget workshop and urged the council to prioritize repairs that pose operational and safety risks.

Tom described two competing bids for hazardous gas-detection equipment — $22,450 and $36,238.83 — and said grit-basin cleaning would likely run "about $12,000 to $14,000". He reported that work on a hoop building had already incurred about $16,500 and told council members he received a rough bid of about $89,000 to replace the press/digester building roof after a history of leaks that damaged electronics. "I got a bid yesterday on it, and as a rough estimate, it was gonna be $89,000," Tom said.

Tom also highlighted recurring maintenance demands and aging pumps and motors and noted other near-term needs such as replacing a leaking gas hose (estimated $11,000). He recommended prioritizing the roof and safety-related repairs and said some items might be handled from the current-year maintenance budget if feasible.

Councilmembers pressed for cost detail and discussed whether to pull some maintenance items into the current-year budget if funds are available. Several members suggested reallocating underspent maintenance funds to cover high-priority repairs rather than increasing next year’s request.

A separate personnel dispute emerged over whether the city should pay for a recently hired operator’s Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) training. Tom said national training requirements have made obtaining a CDL more expensive; councilmembers were divided on whether the city should fund the training. One member said the city should not begin a policy of funding CDLs across departments, while others proposed tying any training support to contractual commitments or hiring policy changes requiring CDLs at hire.

Next steps: staff will provide more detailed bids and updated spreadsheets to show what can be done in the current budget year and what must wait for FY26 capital allocations.