BLAND — Bland aldermen learned Monday night the city would not be able to meet an April 1 bidding deadline for a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) awarded six years ago to replace the water tower and update the town’s water system.

Integrity Engineering’s engineer Terris Cates, who has been working with the city on the project, explained that when the bids came back on the three contracts for the project in February, contracts one and three were set, but contract two was entirely too high.

“We went to (U.S. Department of Agriculture) USDA to see if we could rebid contract two,” Cates told aldermen. “They said no, we would have to rebid them all.”

However, bid requirements state the bid must be out for 30 days and the board would not have enough time to rebid everything as of March 9 in time for the April 1 deadline.

Cates said he spoke with Michael Hartman with USDA who suggested the city reapply for the grant that is now up to $750,000 and withdraw from the $500,000 grant they received. The board asked about the increase in rates and where it would be if they had to wait until September to know if they received the new grant. In 2019 it was estimated to be a $30,000 cost to demolish the old water tower and in 2020 it is $75,000.

“There are no guarantees, but Mike Hartman tells me it is just a paperwork thing,” Cates said. “That price increase on the tower was due to regulations, not labor and materials.”

The board asked where they would be if they did not receive the new grant after they withdrew from the current one.

Cates said they would be hurting and it is not for him to tell the board what to do, they are his boss. Alderman Sherry Spradling asked what it would take for them to continue with the $500,000 grant and move forward with the water project.

“I can’t meet the April 1 deadline to tell you the truth,” Cates said. “We don’t have any choice right now (but to withdraw from the $500,000 grant and apply for the $750,000 grant).”

Aldermen agreed to move forward with withdrawing and reapplying for the other grant, but not without expressing their disappointment. Cates said the soonest the project could begin now is in 2021.

Cates said he needed to know if the city was going to move the location of the water tower from the outer side of the city park to the 700 block of Highway 28 near Vera Thompson’s home. He estimated that by moving the tower’s location, the city could save anywhere from $48,000 to $56,000 on the project, and added that someone already told Meramec Regional Planning Commission, the city’s grant administrator, to move forward with withdrawing the old grant and reapplying for the new one.

“I move we move the tower for savings and for security sake,” Alderman Diana Mayfield said.

Aldermen had previously discussed security concerns at the Feb. 26 special meeting when bids were opened. They all agreed that the tower being located so far out could leave it open to more vandalism.

Spradling seconded the motion and it passed with a 3-0 vote.

The change in venue for the water tower will require another environmental study to be done and another letter sent to the Osage Indians to request permission to dig on land that may be a former burial ground. However, Cates said the change will not delay the project.

“Because they are withdrawing the grant and reapplying for another, the environmental report takes 60 days, but the new grant application won’t go through until September,” Cates said. “So changing the location of the tower won’t cause any delays.”