PANAMA CITY — The county’s alternate water supply project has come in about $1.6 million under budget — before construction even started.
The Bay County Commission is slated to vote on the $23.4 million guaranteed maximum price for the project at its Tuesday meeting. The original budget was $25 million.
The guaranteed maximum price means the county will pay no more than that amount; any cost overruns would be born by the contractor, Phoenix Construction, of Lynn Haven.
The project would tap in to the northern part of the Deer Point reservoir and pipe the water to the treatment plant on Transmitter Road. The reservoir supplies the vast majority of the county’s potable water. Currently, the county’s only tap in point is at the southern end of the reservoir.
Officials have long been concerned that a hurricane could push saltwater into the reservoir, contaminating residents’ drinking water. Commission Chairman Guy Tunnell said he was anxious to get the project started and was confident it would alleviate those concerns.
“I think this will lay that issue to rest; I really do. … I believe we’re going to be safe with that situation now,” he said.
The project has been a long-time coming. When Tunnell came aboard the commission about 3½ years ago, the county was focused on drilling wells in the Sand Hills area around the Washington County line, but a court ruling halted the project.
“It was kind of floundering,” Tunnell said.
Now, it’s time to push this version through, so the county will have a secondary water source, he said.
Tunnell was also pleased the project came in under budget.
“That’s always a good thing, when you save money,” he said. “Certainly no one should complain about that.”
The chairman believed county staff negotiated a strong contract that would protect the county and prevent any problems down the road. He said he believes the county is in a safe position where it won’t be on the hook for any excess costs or construction problems.
Controversy surrounded the contractor’s hiring back in June. Phoenix Construction did not make the short list, but a last-minute decision by the commission opened the contract up to all firms who had submitted qualifications. One of the losing firms even filed a notice of protest over how the contract was awarded, but eventually dropped the protest.
Phoenix’s owner, James Finch said he hoped more savings could be picked up during the construction process. He also wants to finish the project faster than the initially projected timeline, which was between 18 months and two years. He said he wants to get the job done in about a year.
“That’s our goal,” he said.
The project is not without its complexities, though, Finch said, one being construction of a radio tower to allow the new pumping station’s computer system to communicate with the county’s water plant.
Finch said he would hire only local subcontractors with the exception of the directional boring crew, which will dig the tunnel to lay the underground pipe. He said the crew would include only five or six people for a couple of months.
“Probably 95 percent of the job will be local, and if we had the (boring) equipment available it would be 100 percent,” Finch said.
The commission meeting is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Tuesday inside the Bay County Government Center at 840 W. 11th St. in Panama City. It is open to the public.