The City of Perry is off and rolling with a project to renovate the wastewater treatment plant.

City Administrator Sven Peterson says the facility is in desperate need of several upgrades, seeing as how the last updates were made more than 20 years ago. The project is being spearheaded by Bolton and Menk, and Peterson says the City recently agreed to a contract with the engineering firm. “Bolton and Menk just finished up their facilities study, which is kind of going through the entire plant from top to bottom and figuring out what improvements need to be made. So now that they have that, we’re able to start going into that design and engineering and funding phase. So one of the things we did was approve the professional services agreement for Bolton and Menk to take us through this whole process. So this is for everything to the day we christen the new treatment plant.”

Peterson adds, per the contract the City will pay Bolton and Menk $1.2 million, which he admits sounds like a lot. However, he says since it’s essentially a three-year agreement on an $18 million project, it makes sense. The next phase of the project is to secure funding, which will be obtained through several sources, including a potential State Revolving Fund (SRF) loan and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). It will also include increasing the water rates for Perry residents. The City is planning an open house to educate the public on the project and its necessity, which is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, August 23rd at 4:30 p.m. at La Poste. Peterson would also like to hold an open house at the plant, to give the public an up-close view of why the renovation needs to happen.

To learn more about the project, click the link below to listen to the Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program with Peterson.

https://raccoonvalleyradio.com/2018/08/lets-talk-dallas-county-872018-sven-peterson/