Local brief
Aldermen approve $423,000 cut—but sewer upgrades still top the original contract
The Oct. 20 consent vote brings the aeration construction contract to $9.2 million, about $296,000 above its original price. Utilities says the work is complete.
Starkville’s Board of Aldermen approved a $423,033.32 reduction in the Ernest E. Jones wastewater treatment plant’s aeration-improvement contract through its Oct. 20 consent vote, bringing the construction price to $9,195,919.01.[1][2][3][4][5]
The cut reconciles final quantities on work that Starkville Utilities says is complete. It lowers the previously adjusted $9,618,952.33 contract—but still leaves the price $295,504.01 above the original $8,900,415 agreement.[5]
The largest single reduction is a $269,000 sludge-removal and disposal item for Oxidation Ditch No. 2, listed with an actual total price of zero. The change-order form names Hemphill Construction Company LLC as contractor and Garver as engineer.[5]
We previously reported the proposed reduction with the board’s decision unverified. The Oct. 20 recording documents the opening motion and its passage; the official agenda includes consented items in that approval, and the mayor then reads the aeration reduction among those items.[1][2][3][4][5]
Sources
5 official sources cited in this report. The bracketed numbers in the text link here.
Reporting history
Newest first. Articles reflect what was known at publication.