Mainly clear skies. Low 67F. Winds light and variable..

Mainly clear skies. Low 67F. Winds light and variable.

The Carthage City Commission met Monday and voted to move forward on a rehabilitation of the wastewater treatment plant.

The Carthage City Commission met Monday and voted to move forward on a rehabilitation of the wastewater treatment plant.

The Carthage City Commission unanimously agreed Monday to spend $1.57 million to rehabilitate the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

Dixie Overland Construction, of Sibley, Louisiana, received the bid. They were the lowest of four submitted bids, with City Manager Steve Williams saying they had good references and were recommended by KSA Engineers.

Williams said the last major rehabilitation of the wastewater treatment plant — or in layman’s terms, the sewer plant — was about 25 years ago.

“It’s just time that some of the equipment has to be replaced and all that sort of thing,” Williams said.

There is no timetable as to when the improvement project will begin. The city is using a little over $1 million in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for the project, as well as the rehabilitation of the overhead storage tank. The rest will be paid for by bonds, Williams said.

The project is the first in a series of projects on the city’s capital improvement plans for the next few years. City officials identified the needed repairs at the sewage plant to be the most critical at a July 2021 workshop.

At the time of the workshop, Public Works Director Byron Roberts pointed to breaking equipment that needs to be replaced, issues with fumes and sludge, and a worry that the main transmission line will go out — which would shut down the plant.

The wastewater plant, Roberts said at the time, was in compliance with state rules right now, but he said it was nearing violation because of needed repairs to the sewage plant. Some of the needed improvements are replacing blowers, air piping from the blower building to aeration basins, aeration basin piping system and diffusers, electrical and controls, and the removal of all sludge from both aeration basins.

Meredith Shamburger oversees newspapers in Carthage, KIlgore and Marshall. A Carthage native, she has been with M.Roberts Media since 2016. Before joining the staff, she served as a reporter with the Dallas Morning News.

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