The City of Marquette, in cooperation with the Marquette Area Wastewater Advisory Board (MAWTAB), has planned capital improvements for the Marquette Area Wastewater Facility with the following goals:

• Provide septage/High Strength Waste (HSW) receiving services.
• Leverage existing assets to produce additional biogas.
• Utilize the biogas in existing engine generators to produce renewable energy in the form of electricity and heat.
• Improve reliability and redundancy of biosolids processing to support water quality objectives and National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) compliance (EGLE requires 180 days of on-site solids storage).
• Address additional system needs including effluent DO compliance, vactor debris handling, and decant pump station deficiencies.

Donohue and Associates developed a Project Plan for the wastewater treatment plant improvements and other projects in 2018, as a mechanism to facilitate funding through the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Funding (CWSRF) program. The project was designed and bid in 2021. Due to high costs and the potential for additional funding, the project was re-packaged and rebid in 2023.

Rebidding the project resulted in the City receiving $5,857,500 in grant funding and securing a 20–year loan with a 1.875% interest rate. Bids for the project were opened on February 16, 2023. The City received one bid from Miron Construction that exceeded the City’s budget by $2 million dollars (approximately 30%). At the MAWTAB meeting held on March 14, 2023, the advisory board agreed unanimously to award the project to Miron Construction with the inclusions of alternative 1, the Huber septage receiving screen, and alternate 5, needed improvements to address regulatory and safety issues.

To reduce the impact of the higher bid the board also approved using $1,380,000 from the facilities reserve fund, leaving a balance of $534,456. The remainder of the costs will be added to the CWSRF loan.

The total estimated project costs including design, services during construction, construction and bonding are $14,064,000 with $6,826,000 borrowed through the CWSRF program to fund the project. The remaining costs are funded with $5,857,500 in grant funds and $1,380,000 in reserve funds.

Accept the bid from Miron Construction with the recommended alternatives in the amount of $12,758,234, as well as the grant funding in the amount of $5,857,500, authorize the remainder of the project funding through $1,380,000 from the facilities reserve fund and a CWSRF loan, and authorize the City Manager or her designee to sign the resolution.