From The Lamar Ledger:
The special session was held because of unusual time constraints resulting from the financing of the project. The city was recently informed that it would receive funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for the project. To qualify for the funding, the project needed to be awarded and a contract in place by the end of 2009. By awarding the contract on Tuesday, the council has the ability to approve the contract for construction of phase two of the project within the appropriate time frame mandated by ARRA regulations.
The portion of the project awarded Tuesday includes the installation of a 24 inch transmission line, connections to the existing water system, and construction of bypass piping around the valve house and existing treatment building. Tezak’s bid was the lowest received by the city, at $1,213,487.49, when bids were opened on Dec. 3. The new 24 inch transmission line is intended to serve as the city’s primary line from the water storage facility and provide redundancy to the system. Currently the system is served by a single 24 inch transmission line that is several decades old. The new line will allow for repairs to be made to the system without halting service to the whole city. The construction of bypass piping around the valve house and existing treatment building is included in the project because the two facilities are slated to be replaced during a separate phase of the system improvement project. Currently there is no bypass piping in place.
More infrastructure coverage here .