News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Cookeville City Council approved the next step in the Tennessee Tech pump station replacement project Thursday night.
Water and Sewer Director Barry Turner said the next step in the process includes the bid and construction phase. The biggest part of the $826,760 contract is an inspector to help manage this part of the process.
“The RPR is going to be a little more skilled person than we have of most jobs,” Turner said. “We have a lot of controls to determine when to pump to the storage tank versus going down the system.”
Turner said the next phase will take roughly 20 months. Design is almost complete on the facility. Turner said they hope to begin work in January.
“It should eliminate the overflows in the Tech basin as well as the Deberry Heights pump station,” Turner said. “This can totally not pump anything downstream and pump 100 percent to the storage tank in a wet weather event. It doesn’t really add much capacity, but it get us to quit overflowing.”
The project will include a 700-gallon per minute pump station as well as a wet weather storage facility. This third amendment to the original contract with Grisham Smith brings the spending total on the project to $1.99 million.
In other business, council voted to continue the agreement with Cookeville Regional to provide wellness services to city employees. City Manager James Mills said at Tuesday’s work session the program is an important benefit to employees and has helped saved lives.
The city will also apply for grant money through the TML Risk Management pool. The money would be used to buy additional ballistic vests for the first department. Council approved a budget expense to replace two aging pickup trucks for Cookeville Electric. Department Director Carl Haney said the two trucks are in-stock and are being held for the city. The total expenditure is $84,000.
