The city of Columbia is putting the water services up for bid as a contract with the current provider expires at the end of September.
Several years ago, the city shifted from a city-run department to a private contractor and hired Michael McDaniel and his firm, MD Electric, to run the water and sewer department. The contract is a four-year deal and bids will be accepted until noon on Sept. 19. The Columbia Board of Aldermen will meet at 4 p.m. that day to discuss and award the contract. McDaniel is likely to bid again to retain his position as water supervisor. The current contracts have cost between $350,000 and $400,000 per year, a cost that is offset by water rates.
The city advertised the request for proposal earlier this week in the pages of The Columbian-Progress after discussing the process in its Aug. 15 meeting.
“The document has the specifications that someone has to meet to adequately bid. It is very similar to what we did three years ago,” City Attorney Lawrence Hahn said.
Hahn said over the years, the definition of the duties have evolved.
“We reviewed contracts and RFPs from other cities and then sat down with Michael and determined exactly what our specific needs were,” Hahn said. “Fortunately, we had people on the Board familiar with water and sewer and a mayor familiar with water and sewer. I think we’ve gone over it with a fine-toothed comb. It’s everything that people knowledgeable could think of to require someone to do in maintaining our water and sewer down to mowing the grass at our lagoons, insurance requirements, licensing requirements, equipment, what their duty to repair is versus the city’s duty to repair and other things. We advertised it last time and had one bidder.”
Hahn said there were differences in the contract.
“This is a four-year deal instead of a three-year deal,” he said. “That is because a four-year deal will get it through the end of your Board term. Four years would put the next contract to the next Board. If we do three years, you would be binding the next Board. It’s similar to what has been done before.”
Hahn said the contract had worked well through tough times, including the December 2014 tornado.
“Michael has gone over and above,” he said. “We had a major tornado and we had no disagreement between Michael and the city about water and sewer repair and who was responsible for what part. I can’t think of there being a bigger test for an agreement than to have a catastrophe like that. The crews were working 24 hours per day, seven days a week to get the water and sewer restored. Frankly, they did more than the contract really mandated.”
Hahn said if a contract was not signed with McDaniel or another firm, the city would have to incorporate the operation into the city services.
“You would have to talk about the cost and what was MD Electric being paid,” he said. “I would just tell everyone to keep in mind that he employs all of the people, we don’t employ the people, and he keeps all of the insurance on the people. He has to maintain equipment and the city does not.”
The city will accept the applications through Sept. 19 and then vote on a contract before the expiration of the current one at the end of September. The Columbia Board of Aldermen next meet in regular session at 4 p.m. on Sept. 5 at City Hall.
Pictured Above: Contracted crews work to fix a recent water main leak on Broad Street in Columbia. | Photo by Mark Rogers
