High Springs Taking Septic Tanks Offline

HIGH SPRINGS – The City of High Springs is moving forward with a utility infrastructure project that will take septic tanks offline and connect them to a centralized sewer system. Commercial Industrial Corp., based near Ocala, received approval to perform work associated with the City’s Phase A2 Gravity Sewer Extensions project.

The project consists of constructing approximately 3,955 linear feet of eight-inch PVC gravity sewer lines, 16 precast manholes, sewer services, sewer hookups and septic tank abandonments, along with rock removal and associated restoration of the sites. Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) is funding the project, which is estimated to cost more than $733,000 to complete.

Although Gainesville-based D.E. Scorpio Corp. submitted a bid of $687,000, which was the lowest bid received by the City, Don Kellogg of Scorpio said their firm anticipated using All South Construction, LLC, as a subcontractor on the project.

The bid documents, which were prepared by Tim Norman of Mittauer & Associates, the City’s engineering firm, called for submitting firms to have successfully completed, “as prime contractor, a minimum of three projects involving gravity sanitary sewer within the past five years, each having a minimum contract value of $500,000 with at least one project having a contract value in excess of $1 million.”

Although Kellogg pointed to several jobs that involved work on sewers as part of their projects, they were unable to demonstrate projects that satisfied the bid requirements.

Although Norman said he had never worked with All South Construction or Scorpio, he maintained that they might be qualified, but didn't demonstrate it in their bid documents. Also, concern about rock removal equipment, which Norman said he knew Commercial Industrial had used on an earlier project, was not addressed by Scorpio. Due to those reasons, Norman recommended the City go with Commercial Industrial Corp. even though they were not the lowest bidder.

The majority of Commissioners agreed with Norman’s assessment and voted 4-1 to approve Commercial Industrial Corp.’s bid of $733,798, which was $46,791 higher than Scorpio’s bid. Commissioner Nancy Lavin provided the dissenting vote.

#     #     #

Email cwalker@

alachuatoday.com