City awards bid for new water tower

The Madison City Commission has awarded the bid for a new 750-thousand gallon water tower to be built in the Lakeview Industrial Park as part of the city’s water system improvement project.  During their meeting Monday, commissioners reviewed bid information from seven bidders on the project and the recommendation from Banner Associates.  City Engineer Chad Comes said that Banner’s recommendation on who to award the bid to was based on a 50-year life cycle cost analysis.  Because the low bidder on the project didn’t meet certain experience requirements, Comes said that Banner recommended awarding the bid to the second lowest bidder based on the life cycle cost analysis – which is Caldwell Tanks of Louisville, Kentucky.

Caldwell Tanks’ bid price is just more than two-point-six-five-million dollars for a composite tower style.  The 50-year life cycle cost analysis for the tower for Caldwell Tanks is $6.43 per gallon.  

Along with the base bid, Comes said there is also a bid alternate that will include the painting of a logo on two sides of the water tower.  

Comes said that the cost of the bid alternate would be the city’s responsibility.  Commissioners discussed different options of what could be painted on the water tower as part of the logo.

The commission approved the bid for the water tower from Caldwell Tanks and also approved the alternate bid for the logo painting.  The commission’s approval of the bid is contingent upon concurrence from Rural Development.