In one action Monday, the City Council hired a company to operate the city’s three water treatment plants, and put to rest the idea of the city selling its water and sewer infrastructure to an outside firm.
The council voted unanimously to hire Bock Inc., the firm that has operated the wastewater treatment plant and the city’s two reverse-osmosis treatment plants for many years, to continue operating the facilities for another five years.
Bock Inc.’s bid of just over $4 million for operating the plants was about $400,000 higher than another bid the city received, from Ion Environmental of Muscatine, Iowa.
Choosing the higher bid was “an extremely difficult decision,” Mayor Gary Moore said.
“Bock is a Kewanee company,” Councilman Mike Komnick said. “That goes a long way with me.”
Councilman Chris Colomer compared the possibility of hiring an outside firm to run the plants with the city’s experience with contracting with LRS to do trash and recycling pickup in the city. Colomer has complained during past meetings of having problems with LRS service.
Ryan Bockewitz, vice president of Bock, told the council, “You can’t really pay for experience.”
Bockewitz noted that his company has been the operator of the wastewater plant for more than 30 years and has run the reverse-osmosis plants for about 20 years.
He also said seven of the company’s eight employees are Kewanee High School graduates.
The city earlier advertised for bids for a contractor to operate the three plants. That advertisement also asked for quotes on purchasing and operating the city’s entire water and sewer infrastructure.
A company called Illinois American Water bid $34 million to purchase the three treatment plants and all of the water and sewer infrastructure in the city. Many Kewaneeans, fearing increased bills for water and sewer service and a lack of accountability to city officials on the part of Illinois-American, voiced their opposition to the sale.
By hiring Bock, the council put an end to the idea of selling the infrastructure.
