Wheeling Leaders: Tank Repainting Price Is Right on Target
Council agrees to approve near half-million dollar contract for work
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WHEELING -- City leaders in Wheeling on Tuesday night said the nearly half-million dollar price tag that comes with the repainting of two water tanks is actually on target, and council agreed to approve the contract for the work.
Two weeks ago, city leaders had noted that prices had "gone through the roof" after bids were received for the repainting of a large water tank off of Springdale Avenue and another tank in Washington Farms. The lowest bidder was Worldwide Industries of Butler, Pennsylvania, with a bid of $495,840, while other contractors submitted significantly higher bids for the same work.
In comparison, John B. Conomos Inc. submitted a bid of $881,855 for the job, while Almega Co. Inc. submitted a bid that was off the charts at $1,014,635.
Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron said that while the other bids were well above the amount that the city had budgeted for this work, the low bid came in under the estimate.
"Actually, this was budgeted," Herron said. "The budgeted amount was $555,000. So the low bid came from a very qualified bidder at a price slightly below the city's budgeted amount.
"These tanks have not been painted for over 20 years. I recommend approval."
Routine painting of water tanks is absolutely necessary, because it addresses both water quality and structural integrity issues, officials noted.
"The city has 19 water tanks, and we are obligated to maintain these structures," Wheeling Public Works Director Russell Jebbia said. "To ensure safe drinking water, once every 20 years, a tank is blasted and painted on the inside and on the outside. Without such maintenance, water quality could be compromised, and the life of the tank would be shortened."
Money to pay for these projects comes from a specific source - the city's Water Department Tank Rehabilitation Fund.
"The low bid of $495,840 for repainting the Springdale and Washington Farms tanks, when considering the size, are in line with the previous projects," Jebbia noted.
Wheeling's most recent tank repainting project occurred in 2019, when a 238,000-gallon Stackyard tank was repainted at a cost of $160,000. This breaks down to a cost of 67 cents per gallon of volume, officials explained. In 2014, a 100,000-gallon tank in Mozart was repainting $94,710, or 47 cents per gallon of volume.
The Springdale tank alone is massive, with a 882,000-gallon capacity. The Washington Farms tank holds 50,000 gallons. The per-gallon cost for repainting these two both inside and outside, based on the lowest bid, is right in line at 53 cents, officials explained.
Members of Wheeling City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve the contract for the water tank repainting project.
Also approved Tuesday night was an ordinance authorizing the city manager to spend $22,598 with Fire Force Inc. of Pittsburgh for tire turnout gear to be charged to the firefighting equipment fund.
Wheeling Fire Chief Jim Blazier said this expenditure will outfit newly hired firefighters with protective equipment.
"We've hired 10 new members after 10 retirements in 2021," Blazier said, noting that the turnover took place primarily in May, June and July. "Unfortunately, we didn't take possession of this gear until about a month ago because of backlogs from COVID restraints and things like that, so that's why it's coming on board now.
"Unfortunately they are very expensive. It's roughly about $3,000 per person to outfit them with protective gear."
Tuesday night's city council meeting had somewhat of a light agenda and a light attendance on all fronts. A quorum was present to allow the meeting to proceed, but both Councilmen Ben Seidler and Ty Thorngate were not in attendance. Mayor Glenn Elliott was also not present, leaving Vice Mayor Chad Thalman to preside over the council meeting.
"Mayor Elliott regrets not being here today," Thalman reported. "He's taking a well-deserved vacation to attend to his wife and their newborn son. It's one of the rare vacations I've known the mayor to take in the last six years. But congratulations to Mayor Elliott, his wife, Cassandra, and their son, Harrison Reed Elliott."