By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
The Arkansas River levee west of Kiowa Road on the east side of Great Bend has experienced bank erosion and is in need of repairs.
The city secured grant funding assistance through the Natural Resource Conservation Service’s (NRCS) Emergency Watershed Protection Program. The grant will reimburse 75% of the total project costs.
When Great Bend first advertised for bids last October, one bid came back at approximately $600,000. That price was significantly over the allotted budget so value engineering was performed and the project requested bids again in December. The city received three bids back the second time but with similar price tags and Great Bend rejected the proposals.
City
Administrator Kendal Francis says Eakin Enterprises approached the
city with a different option.
"Their option would make the repairs within our budget; however, it would require a project start date that was outside the window provided by NRCS," said Francis.
Following further discussions with NRCS, the organization approved the proposal
with the time extension. The Great Bend City Council approved the $138,236
project bid from Eakin.
"If we had the manpower, we would just do the project ourselves," said Francis. "It is within our capabilities but it would be an extensive drain on manpower, especially since we're coming back into the spring season and you never know what river levels will be like in the near future."
The erosion along the levee is a result of the high waters the city experienced
in 2019.
With the NRCS grant covering 75% of the cost, Great Bend's share will be $34,559 to come from the city’s levee maintenance fund.