(Photo via Google Maps).
The village of Marathon will hire a Syracuse-based engineer consulting firm to work on the village’s wastewater plant overhauls.
The village’s Board of Trustees announced and unanimously voted on Wednesday to go ahead with Barton & Loguidice of Liverpool after reviewing three requests for qualifications in the past month.
The plant has received no major upgrades since it was built in the 1970s. There has been a need for critical renovations for the last eight to 10 years.
At Wednesday’s meeting, village mayor Scott Chamberlin said a committee of village officials interviewed three prospective engineering firms who answered the request for qualifications advertisement.
“It was an interesting session of interviews. We learned a lot about what maybe we should do to fix the plant that what we weren’t considering from the beginning,” Chamberlin said. “We got a general feel of how each one would respond to the needs of Marathon and the sewage treatment plant.”
Chamberlin noted the committee picked Barton & Loguidice in part because the project may become more expensive than originally planned.
“I think everybody on the committee knows that they would put in the best effort for us. They’re the biggest company and they have a lot of people that can help us with future grant applications,” he said. “Everybody said we’re going to need more grants because the project is going to get bigger than it is right now.”
Chamberlin said the village qualifies for 0% financing options under a hardship clause found in the state of New York’s financial assistance plan.
“We will get 0% financing for whatever we can’t get full funding for, which will help a great deal in today's climate,” Chamberlin added.
Barton & Loguidice crews, he said, are eager to start working.
“They want to hit the ground running. They want to start right away with their survey work,” Chamberlin added.
