Council approves $20,000 design addendum for water-plant clarifier

The Town of Bethany Beach council voted to approve a revised scope-of-services addendum with engineering firm Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson (JMT) to design a new plate-settler clarifier for the town water plant.

Town manager Cliff Gravier said the change in direction from a round-concrete clarifier to a plate-settler design increased the design cost by $20,000 over the previously approved $307,000 contract, and that the additional funds exist in the clarifier line of the current budget. “It’s a $20,000 difference,” Gravier said. He told the council the addendum includes design elements for the clarifier, grading and stormwater and that construction will be scheduled after design and bidding.

Council members discussed procedural language in the addendum and confirmed it should be titled an addendum rather than an amendment. The council approved the addendum by voice vote; a formal roll call tally was not read into the record. Mayor and council members noted the town already has an approved low-interest state loan (about 2.2%) for clarifier work, and said the building that will house the clarifier is a town-funded element distinct from the borrowing for the clarifier system.

The council was told the design includes a building to enclose the equipment, and the clarifier configuration aims to provide redundancy so the town can avoid outages and reliance on neighboring systems during maintenance.

Next steps: the town will proceed with final design, bidding and later construction phases; council indicated construction would occur after the shoulder season and following bid awards.