Most expensive city project best completed with Design-Builder process

wastewater-treatment-plant-ws — The Hays wastewater treatment facility was built in 1953 and must undergo extensive renovations to meet new discharge requirements by 2018.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

Only one other time is Hays City Manager Toby Dougherty aware of the city used the “design-build” process for a project. That was back in the late ’80s for a relatively small, but complicated project involving a contaminated water plume, as Dougherty discovered during his research.

Thirty years later, the city will use the design-build process again, for what will be the “most expensive project Hays has ever undertaken,” according to Dougherty.

The wastewater treatment plant needs a $30.26 million makeover to meet more stringent discharge limits by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

The plant, 1498 E. Highway 40 Bypass, was built in 1953, expanded in 1967 and updated again in the early 1990s. The existing facilities are reaching or exceeding their useful life.

KDHE issued the city a new discharge permit in 2014 that lowered the city’s previous ammonia limits and issued new discharge limits for nitrates, nitrites, and phosphorus. City staff concluded a significant upgrade is needed to meet the permit discharge limits by July, 2018.

HDR Engineering, Inc. was hired in April to serve as the city’s Owner’s Representative to assist the City in the design-build process, which Dougherty said limits “finger pointing.”

“In the traditional design-bid-build method, we would hire an engineer to determine what should be done at the wastewater plant with associated cost estimates. Once approved, it goes out for bids. The engineers are usually out of it at that point and the builder takes over.

“That works pretty well for a street or something relatively simple. The issue with the wastewater treatment facility or another multi-faceted project, is that if something goes wrong, the city may go to the builder and the builder may say that’s a designer issue. Then the engineer in turn may say talk to the builder–and you get the finger pointing.

“That’s why we wanted to use the design-build method because we have one point of contact–the design-builder–and one legal contract to administer,” Dougherty explained.

HDR Project Manager Stan Christopher and city staff have recommended hiring CDM Smith, Wichita, as the Design-Builder for Phase 1 of the project at a cost of $1,876,611. City commissioner will consider approving the project at the Dec. 10 regular meeting.

Sewer rates for Hays customers will triple over the next six years to help finance the wastewater plant renovation as well as pay for replacement of aging sewer lines.