At approximately 5:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 25, 2014, an event occurred disrupting the 12.7 KV electrical supply to the Wastewater Treatment Plant. The electrical disruption took the Wastewater Treatment Plant offline, damaged Northwestern Energy’s Rimrock substation, and the Exxon Refinery.

City staff and Northwestern Energy personnel were able to provide temporary power to the Wastewater Treatment Plant, allowing most of the treatment process to operate. The Wastewater Treatment Plant is operating on a temporary feeder power system with no backup electrical supply. Due to damage to the feeder power system, any additional disruption to the treatment plant power would eliminate 30-50% of the wastewater treatment process for several days.
MCA 7-5-4302 requires cities to advertise for competitive bids and to award the bid to the lowest responsive bidder. Competitive bidding requires an advertising and award process that would delay the repair to the system for several weeks. MCA 7-5-4303 allows cities to waive the competitive bidding requirements if ¾ of the members present at the meeting of the City Council declare an emergency.

City Council may:

• Approve the emergency resolution waiving the competitive bidding process and authorizing the City Administrator to approve an electrical repair contract as permitted by MCA 7-5-4303; or
• Not approve the emergency resolution and instruct staff to advertise for competitive bids.

The estimated cost of repair is between $100,000 and $150,000 and will be paid using Wastewater Treatment Plant funds.

Staff recommends that Council adopt a resolution declaring an emergency, waive the competitive bidding requirement, and give the City Administrator authority to sign the contract to repair the damage at the Wastewater Treatment Plant