MOOSE JAW — City hall must spend an extra $1.57 million to upgrade the Crescent View Lift Station because the project requires additional engineering work and the creation of new technical standards.
During the May 26 regular city council meeting, city administration requested an extra $1,577,852.34 for contractor AECOM Canada Ltd. for a project change order, with the money to come from the existing budget line for lift stations — Crescent View Headworks and SCADA control system audit and upgrade.
Council voted unanimously to support the motion.
Administration explained that extra engineering services are required to complete the project’s design — it’s been 90-per-cent complete since March 2023 — with new environmental and civil work and make it tender-ready.
Moreover, it requires further general engineering/contract administration, on-site resident engineer inspections during construction, and commissioning and post-construction services.
Also, the extra funding will help city hall establish Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) technical standards and guidelines, which include a full system audit to expand the city’s existing network and control system development standards.
This change order includes 4,000 hours of AECOM engineering support, while construction is anticipated to occur from April 2026 to April 2028 and general engineering and contract administration tasks from January 2026 to January 2029.
The current project budget is $66.41 million; this request is not expected to increase that cost.
The scope and complexity of the project have increased since the city awarded the design and construction service contract to AECOM in August 2021, a council report said.
The contractor has identified additional work since then, such as force-main modifications and a new potable water truck fill station at the existing wastewater treatment plant, the replacement of a grit classifier at the existing building, and decommissioning and demolition work at that building.
Furthermore, AECOM has confirmed through assessments that there is hydrocarbon contamination at the construction site, which requires updating information about buried utilities and structures, sheet wall requirements including hydrocarbon barrier, dewatering and groundwater management measures for treatment, and disposal, the report said.
The engineering services branch realizes that an opportunity exists to incorporate the development of technical specifications and guidelines to enhance the city’s existing networking standards, especially since Crescent View Headworks is one of the largest city-owned venues, the document continued.
AECOM will conduct the SCADA system audit and develop a master plan that includes operations, maintenance and replacement, the report said. The city will use this audit in all future building projects and ensure consistency throughout its network.
Administration told council during the meeting that SCADA will analyze the city’s entire system, including equipment like pumps or motors. Moreover, since all 15 sewage lift stations converge at Crescent View, city hall will “spin out” SCADA’s analyses to other infrastructure.
Meanwhile, the report noted that so far, AECOM’s engineering service tasks have included $1,281,981.57 in committed/contract activities and $1,577,852.34 with the change order, totalling $2,859,233.91 or 4.31 per cent of the project’s estimated cost.
“We still have good value with AECOM at 4.31 per cent. And more (important) than the value is our relationship with that consultant,” Bevan Harlton, director of operations, told council, noting AECOM has a good track record with completing this type of work and the city has “high trust” in it.
The report added that the city will pay for this project with $24 million in carry-forward money from 2024, along with $5.45 million in capital funding this year, $10.74 million next year and $26.12 million in 2017, along with a post-construction budget of $120,000 in 2028.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, June 9.
