MORGANTOWN — Morgantown Utility Board General Manager Mike McNulty said it’s taken a tremendous effort from a small army of people, but financing for the Cheat Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrades is signed and sealed.
Now, focus turns to Mele & Mele & Sons to deliver on its $36 million contract to expand the plant’s daily capacity from 750,000 to 1.75 million gallons.
That work, Assistant General Manager Rich Rogers said, will begin this winter – likely after the first of the year.
Facing a Dec. 31 deadline to obligate American Rescue Plan Act funds – which make up a significant portion of the financing – MUB was left scrambling in late October when the lowest construction bid came in $9 million over engineering estimates.
The utility went back to the West Virginia Water Development Authority and Department of Environmental Protection, both of which increased the amount of funding available for the project.
The WVWDA agreed to increase its ARPA contribution to the project from $6.75 million to just over $8 million. The size of the loan to be taken through the DEP was adjusted up to $33.8 million. MUB is contributing just over $3.5 million and there is an additional $165,000 in grant dollars committed, meaning there is a total of just over $46 million worth of financing in hand.
“A lot of hard work and tears, I think, went into this,” McNulty joked, adding, “We got a lot of great support from down in Charleston for this project to happen and grant dollars to get us moving. We’re very excited.”
Another long-awaited project, the Upper Popenoe Run sanitary and stormwater improvements, will also kick off in the coming days.
Laurita Inc. was awarded a $3,228,528 contract for the project in August.
The work includes the installation of 2,950 feet of gravity sewer line, 1,070 feet of storm sewer, the rehabilitation of the Upper Popenoe Run stream and some 207 tree plantings.
The project area will stretch from the stadium parking lot side of Willowdale Road and run between Richland Avenue and Randolph Road to Hoffman Avenue, where it bends and runs behind the homes on Amherst Road to Stewart Street.
Early work will consist of felling trees. Once the pipe and stream restoration work begins, it will start on the Willowdale Road end of the project.
As he has previously, McNulty said the construction will be intrusive at times for those living in the project area.
“They will be visible. You’ll just have to wake up and look out your bedroom window. They’ll be in your backyard,” he said.
In other MUB news, the utility board approved a $599,557 contract with Green River Group to construct a sanitary sewer project for the new Whispering Oak development, located just over a mile from I-68 Exit 7 down Cheat Road.
Lastly, the board approved a $300 holiday bonus for MUB’s full-time employees.
“Our team members have worked really hard this year. They’ve accomplished a lot. Needless to say, with the ARPA projects, that’s been a monumental task. It’s a well-deserved holiday bonus,” McNulty said.
