Bid for pipeline section approved

CLOVIS — A bid package beginning the Cannon-Clovis section of the Ute Water Pipeline was approved unanimously by board members of the Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority at their regular monthly meeting Thursday afternoon.

But it will still be about six months before the spade strikes the earth on construction.

More than $12 million of an estimated $24.6 million in construction costs for the pipeline section known as “Finish Water 2” is already secured through local, federal and state funding, including capital outlay and Water Trust Board funds, ENMWUA Interim Executive Director Maggie Chapman told the board.

An additional $5.1 million is expected in the next month, including a combined $3.2 million in state funds to be closed on Jan. 26 and about $1.9 million from President Trump’s budget, Chapman said. A precise time frame for receipt of the latter was unclear, Chapman said, but latest word was those designated funds would be available Feb. 19.

The remaining $7.2 million needed to fully fund that portion of the project is anticipated in the next year from “Blue Sky Funding,” or federal “plus-up” money, Chapman said.

The base bid package authorized Thursday will include a contract for construction of the first 2.8 miles of steel pipeline from Cannon Air Force Base as well as the remaining 4.3 miles of pipeline to complete the section to Clovis. That extra pipeline will be stored in its 50-foot segments at a secure location in the city and be available for use as additional federal dollars come in to fund the remaining construction.

Buying all the 7.1 miles of pipeline in advance will ultimately save ENMWUA money, since the pipeline can be produced and shipped in all at once rather than in small portions.

The bidding process begins March 26 and lasts 60 days, the first 25 of which ENMWUA will advertise for contracts before making an award. Construction could begin as early as July or as late as September and is expected to last 11 months, Chapman said Thursday.

The board struggled in past months to secure easement rights on two sections in the eastern half of Finish Water 2, closer to Clovis. For one of those properties, co-owned by Phillip Chavez and his father on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, the court this month entered an order to soon authorize ENMWUA to lay about 880 feet of pipe 85 feet underground there, attorney Dave Richards said Thursday.

Chavez declined to talk on the matter Thursday.

The board approved condemnation last month of the other section in question, a 21-acre tract south of the intersection of Grand Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard owned by Luis Nunez and Jose Luis Gonzales. The condemnation suit will be filed within two weeks, Richards said, after which ENMWUA will ask a judge “for right of immediate entry” and a “just compensation” to be held on reserve by the court.

Attempts Thursday to reach Nunez and Gonzales were unsuccessful.

Condemnation in those matters concerns eminent domain rights, which a judge can authorize if a project is found to be in the public interest, Richards said last month.

ENMWUA board member Robert Thornton said during the meeting Thursday that the condemnation in both cases only amounted to temporary construction of an underground pipe, along with fair payment for that access as determined by two separate appraisals.

“We’re not taking that land, only asking for access to put a pipeline in the ground, which they will be compensated for,” he said. “Then they can go back to whatever they’re doing.”

“The actual disturbance of their property or ability to manage that property is very minimal,” Richards added.

Consideration of the bid options was the only item of new business at Thursday’s meeting.

Before adjourning, board members met in closed executive session to discuss limited personnel matters and reported no action following.

ENMWUA board Chair and Clovis Mayor David Lansford said Wednesday the board had interviewed four candidates out of 28 to apply for the executive director position, vacated Oct. 1 when Justin Howalt left to become Clovis’ city manager.

Those four were: Curtis Wilson, district engineer for West Travis County Public Utility Agency in central Texas; David Burkett, project construction manager for Hesperia, California; Jason Burns, city projects engineer for Carlsbad; and Orlando Ortega, former Portales mayor and now the economic development director for the Roosevelt County Community Development Corp.

Lansford said Thursday the board had not declared finalists but would schedule follow-up interviews with some of those candidates, in executive sessions that will be announced in advance.