Washington to demolish old wastewater treatment plant

The Washington City Council approved a task order at its Sept. 7 meeting to demolish the old wastewater treatment plant, located on the same property as the current facility but out of service for nearly a decade.

At over $39,000, the project had a higher price tag than some city officials expected.

“It seems like quite an expense for what I understand is making a plan for demolition when it would seem that demolition is pretty simple,” Mayor Jaron Rosien said.

Project engineer Steve Troyer explained the reason for the demolition’s expense.

“There’s quite a bit of effort that’s involved in preparing the bidding plans and specifications,” he said. “We basically have to prepare many documents that include site plans, details of the structures that are out there, so all our contractors are bidding the same work … we have to go to public bid because the amount of work is expected to be above the bidding threshold.”

Rosien said the demolition is long-awaited.

“We’ve had the new plant open since 2012,” he said. “So this demolition project has been almost 10 years in the works.”

City Council members unanimously approved the task order.