Anchorage consent agenda carries $2.4 million in sludge hauling contracts

Sludge from Anchorage's Eagle River and Girdwood sewage plants would be trucked to the city's Asplund Wastewater Treatment Facility in Anchorage under two sludge hauling contracts worth up to $2.4 million. Both are proposed for Around the Clock Pumping LLC, the lowest of three bidders on each route. Mayor Suzanne LaFrance's administration and utility General Manager David A. Persinger recommend approval.

They are bid awards on the Anchorage Assembly's consent agenda for Oct. 6, items the agenda calls "typically routine" and "not required to be set for public hearing."

Each contract runs one year with four optional one-year renewals. The Eagle River contract is worth up to $1.64 million over five years. Pricing starts at 8.9 cents a gallon and rises to 9.3 cents. The Artillery Road plant may produce up to 75,000 gallons of sludge weekly.

The Girdwood contract is worth up to $760,500 at a flat 19.5 cents a gallon, based on an evaluated annual cost of $152,100 for 780,000 gallons. Competing bids came in higher on both routes.

The hauler must respond within 24 hours, seven days a week. Neither contract guarantees minimum work.