Amador County – The Ione City Council tonight will consider approving $500,000 dollars worth of contract amendments for the city Wastewater Master Plan. City Manager Kim Kerr in a report last Friday recommended the council review the Wastewater Master Plan status and remaining work, and amendments to 2 related contracts. One, with RMT Environmental Consulting, would add $163,000 dollars to a total contract for $572,000 dollars. The other amendment would alter a contract with Lee & Ro, Incorporated, for a total contract amount of $438,000 dollars. Kerr said the “Ione wastewater treatment plan is out of capacity” and the “City has been investigating various methods to expand (it) to accommodate permitted and future growth.” RMT and Lee & Ro helped with preliminary environmental review, and the planning for the project. RMT has been involved since December 2006. In June 2008, the City Council approved the contract with RMT for $409,475. RMT said the project’s “off site monitoring wells for hydrology analysis” have been difficult to complete. And Kerr said “RMT is seeking a budget augment in the amount of $163,000 dollars to complete the project, for the total cost of $572,343. RMT is on schedule to get a draft EIR released June 15th. Ione has had a contract with Lee & Ro for engineering services since March 2007, extending through this month. Kerr said “we need to amend their contract for services,” totaling $437,755 dollars. That includes $79,000 dollars for on-call wastewater treatment support; $45,000 dollars for on-call collection engineering support; $59,000 dollars for regulatory and permitting assistance, and $254,000 dollars to be a member of the “owner’s representative design build team.” Kerr said “staff is recommending at minimum” the council approve the costs for on-call wastewater, on-call wastewater collection, and regulatory and permitting assistance for a total of $184,000 dollars. At maximum, Kerr said staff recommended both amendments, for a total of $499,000 dollars. Kerr said there were no alternatives to the amendments. She said “The City needs to complete these tasks to address the City’s wastewater issues now and for the future. There are no real alternatives until the City gets the necessary EIR completed as agreed to in a recent lawsuit. The best that can be done is to reduce costs where is appropriate and deliver the projects on time as outlined.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.