Thursday, June 1, 2023
Since 1854 — News from Montcalm County and Ionia County, Michigan
Three years ago, this city embarked upon one of the largest municipal projects in its history — a multi-million dollar project featuring both renovation and expansion of the wastewater treatment plant.
However, now three years into that endeavor, the costs for the project have ballooned to a point that the city is seeking alternative financing in the form of a potential low-interest loan.
A general contractor that was passed over in a bid for building the new Belding wastewater treatment plant had some comments to make to the City Council.
During the Nov. 1 meeting, Rob Kalniak, vice president of Davis Construction, took the podium during public comment to voice his displeasure with City Manager Jon Stoppels’ recommendation to the council to choose the bid from Fleis & Vandenbrink over bids from Davis Construction and Williams & Works.
City Council members have some choices to make on the next steps toward the goal of updating the wastewater treatment plant.
At their Sept. 6 meeting, council members heard another update from Scott Hall, an engineer at Fleis & VandenBrink, the firm heading the project.
After 57 years of utilizing a lagoon system to handle the community’s wastewater, time has caught up with that system of management.
Due to a multitude of problems, ranging from performance issues to mechanical equipment failure and excessive accumulation of biosolids, Belding must now implement an expensive solution to address a situation 60 years in the making.
