La Salle council approves $92,000 bid for sewer cleaning

The La Salle City Council is set to spend $92,000 for a 2024 sewer-cleaning and televiewing project.

La Salle City Engineer Brian Brown said Monday that the project mainly will focus on the sewers east of Joliet Street, from Canal to Route 6, and maybe up to Sixth Street.

Sewertech LLC was granted the project with the lowest bid at $92,684. The second lowest was Performancing Pipelining Inc. at $156,496.

Brown acknowledged the large gap between the two bids during the City Council meeting, but he said the city had protected itself with a bid bond.

“The contractor doing that low bid, if they were concerned about being so far under, they could pull their bid,” he said. “They did not pull their bid. I’ve done some research on them. I’ve talked to our consultant. … They do not have a concern with this contractor.”

Brown said Sewertech is a Midwestern company, not a small firm, that could just need work for its staff for the winter and may be looking to break into a new community.

Alderman Bob Thompson asked whether the city had its own equipment to perform the work. Brown said the city did, but it was not functioning.

“It’s 20 years old, probably out of date,” he said. “[It] does not function like we need it to.”

Brown said the department’s hope and goal is to get equipment and personnel that would be able to complete a future project.

As part of the contract, Brown said he requested the city’s consultant be on-site at startup and the first few days to make sure everything is being done per the contract.

“It’s been 20 years since I’ve watched this on an hourly basis, and it has to be watched on an hourly basis,” Brown said. “It’s not just a job and get it done. It’s a method of how they go about doing it.”