The biggest construction project Dowagiac has seen in recent memory has been approved.
Dowagiac City Council on Monday conditionally awarded contracts worth about $8 million for three companies to complete to the city’s wastewater treatment plant, manholes and sewer system. They also approved loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for more than $10 million.
“This is as big a construction project as we’ve seen in the city in the last 15-20 years,” said City Manager Kevin Anderson. “When its done, we will have significantly modernized the [wastewater treatment] plant.”
Nearly $6 million of the funds will be used on the wastewater treatment plant, with about $600,000 for rehabilitating the city’s aging manholes and about $1.5 Million for sewer system improvements.
“We’ve got manholes that are all brick throughout the city,” Anderson said. “We’ve got several hundred of them. All of them will be lined with this project. … This is a very big, comprehensive project.”
According to documents provided by the city, improvements have been estimated by engineers to be approximately $10,174,000 including the payment of legal, engineering, financial and other expenses. They city has been working with the USDA since 2018 to secure funding for the major work on the sewage system, according to a memo from Anderson to City Council.
During Monday’s meeting, Anderson said the loans are at 1.8 percent interest over 40 years and commented that it was a good deal which allows the city to construct in today’s dollars at less than the rate of inflation.
“All in all, this has been a project we’ve been working on over the last three or four years,” said Anderson. “It’s come to fruition now, and we’re very close to getting the work started.”
The city expects to close on the deal by mid-August, and begin work shortly thereafter.
By Ryan Yuenger
ryany@wsjm.com
