Whitefish to decide on wastewater plant contract

The Whitefish City Council will consider awarding Swank Enterprises the new wastewater treatment plant construction project at its meeting tonight at 7:10 p.m. at City Hall.

The city received two bids for the project, with Swank Enterprises’s bid coming in at $20,370,000. The other bid, at $23,145,616, came from Dick Anderson Construction.

The Whitefish Public Works Department is recommending the council award the project to Swank Enterprises. If that happens, “a change order will be executed reducing the contract price to approximately $19,895,000 based on final value engineering negotiations,” according to a letter to the council from Public Works Director Craig Workman.

“Swank is a reputable firm that has successfully completed countless projects throughout Montana. In addition, the plant that has been designed and the bid is the most cost-effective solution to regain compliance with DEQ [Department of Environmental Quality] and will serve the city for decades to come,” Workman wrote.

In October 2012, the state ordered the city of Whitefish to construct a new wastewater treatment plant that meets updated requirements. The City Council approved an engineering report in 2016 that recommended the new plant be built in the current location of the city’s wastewater lagoons.