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Sewer Extension Project Moving Forward In Spencer

July 19, 2022 Steve Schwaller

(Spencer)– A sanitary sewer extension project on the south side of Spencer is moving forward. The City Council Monday set August 1st as the date to consider plans and specifications and to award a bid on the project, which is along a stretch of 25th Street and 11th Avenue Southwest. A significant portion of the $557,000 estimated cost is being assessed to property owners. Most of the assessments came back higher than the preliminary numbers. An engineer told the council it’s due to several factors…

“Inflation obviously is one of them. Materials, fuel prices, labor, there’s labor issues and guys are having to pay people more to work. So the estimated cost did go up after we reviewed the cost. The other thing is, too, with the ag land, it was determined that a portion of that ag land is going to be a duplicate main and some of those costs fall back into the rest of the parcels, so.”

That area of Spencer is currently served by septic tanks. The vast majority of residents who spoke at a public hearing at Monday’s City Council are in favor of the project and some who’s septic systems are failing requested the time frame of the project be bumped up…

“We have already talked about the possibility of this going over your timeframe. There is no way that we can make it through the winter. We’re measuring our garage to see if we can fit a port-a-pot in there to get us by.”

The project engineer told the council expediting the project would likely result in a significant price increase. The project is currently scheduled to get underway in late August or next spring. Approval of plans and specifications and a bid letting is set for the council’s August 1st meeting.

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