Archived story
As originally published
Baldwin City Council unanimously authorized a $508,556.50 change order Nov. 12, 2024, allowing the city to cover the full cost and complete the purchase of a screw press for its wastewater system. The 5-0 vote came after staff warned that the broader wastewater project could not be finished by the applicable funding deadline.
The decision directs more than half a million dollars toward equipment for an essential municipal service and addresses a practical funding problem at the same time. A screw press is part of wastewater solids handling, but the council’s action concerned buying the equipment, not completing the related building work or placing a functioning press into service.
The vote followed a Nov. 4 work-session discussion in the related wastewater-building proceeding, where staff said Baldwin had received $1.274 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds in November 2021 and committed money to projects including the solids-handling building and screw press. Staff said the building’s lowest bid had reached $1.2 million, above the 2021 estimate of $800,000, and proposed applying allotted funds to the press while seeking building funding after the new year. Eight days later, staff brought forward the change order, including $55,000 more to complete the press purchase and $382,198 in previously committed ARPA funds.
City staff framed the approach as a way to secure the screw press even though the overall project was not expected to meet its deadline. Council members Alice Venter and Nancy Lehman made and seconded the motion, respectively, and the council approved it without a dissenting vote. In the earlier work session, staff’s proposal treated the press and the higher-cost building as separate immediate funding decisions: buy the equipment with allotted funds, then pursue money for the building later.
The authorization is complete: the Nov. 12 minutes record a motion, second and 5-0 carried vote to execute the $508,556.50 change order. The record does not show a purchase order, delivery, installation, testing or operation of the screw press, and it does not establish a final completion date for the wastewater work. The earlier discussion documented a cost and funding challenge for the building, but not a final resolution of that construction funding.
The next concrete public development would be a later city record documenting the purchase order, delivery or installation of the screw press, an additional amendment, or completion of the wastewater project. Until then, Baldwin residents can identify a council-approved equipment commitment of $508,556.50, but not whether the press has been put into service or how the remaining building work will be funded and completed.