Cookeville City Council approved a $19,000 deduction on the final payment for renovations to the Little Creek Pump Station Thursday night.
The renovations to the 1980s-era system were to be completed in April. Water and Sewer Department Director Ronnie Kelly said COVID-related issues delayed the final completion date some 115 days.
“We bent over backward giving days,” Kelly said. “The contractor thinks he probably had more days than we actually gave him. So he’s just asking for us to just deduct our actual cost and not penalize him.”
The council approved the project in May, 2020 at a price tag of over $965,000. During the renovation project to modernize the facility, an additional $48,000 change over was approved. The project finished in August. With the council action Thursday night, the final price tag will be just over $932,700.
“This is an old station that was put in in the 1980s,” Kelly said. “You had to go down under the ground to service the pumps and the motors. And so we’re trying to get those out of the system.”
Moving the pumps above ground will make it safer for city employees, Kelly said.
The council approved on second reading a series of budget amendments including repairs to the Leslie Town Center HVAC system as well as the payment of $100 Christmas bonuses to city employees. The bonuses are in lieu of a Christmas lunch which will not be held this year.
Council approved a new five-year term for Judy Jennings to the Cookeville Planning Commission. Jennings’ current term ends in January. Connie McCormick will serve a new three-year term on the Board of Zoning Appeals.
The post Cookeville Approves Cost Reduction On Little Creek Project appeared first on News Talk 94.1/AM 1600.