Columbia City Council approves nearly $93K contract for water utility study
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Columbia City Council unanimously approved a nearly $93,000 contract Monday night to hire an outside consultant to evaluate the city's water utility and develop a plan for maintenance and capital improvements over the next 20 years.
The $92,820 contract with Provenance Engineering will include reviewing previous water utility studies, assessing current and future maintenance needs and prioritizing proposed capital improvement projects. The goal is to align those projects with the utility's long-term strategic priorities while accounting for anticipated maintenance, operations and future expansion.
The work will include gathering and reviewing data, meeting with utility staff and developing maintenance and capital improvement plans. The consultant will also support public engagement efforts.
Utilities Director Erin Keys told ABC 17 News the consultant previously worked with the city. Keys said the consultant's experience and knowledge of how the city operates made them a good fit as the city evaluated candidates for the project. She also estimated the study will be completed within the next six months.
The work will be paid for with water utility funds. After a draft report is completed, the city plans to offer opportunities for public engagement to present the plan and gather feedback from customers.
The contract has drawn criticism from the Como Safe Water Coalition, which questioned why the city needs to hire an outside consultant to evaluate its own water utility.
Coalition co-founder Julie Ryan said the group believes the city should be able to develop its own long-term plan. She also questioned whether previous studies the consultant will review are still relevant.
“The problem with that right now is that a lot of the studies that might be looked at, some of them have been sitting on the shelf for ten years. So how valid is the information that we might still find in them?” Ryan told ABC 17 News.
Ryan also raised concerns about the consultant's previous employment with the city, saying the coalition believes the work should be conducted by someone with an objective perspective.
“It's my understanding that the individual who would be doing this work for the company they're contracting with is a prior city employee. And in our view, we really need somebody who has some objectivity. We don't need somebody who is a prior employee who might, be swayed, who might feel that they don't want to hurt somebody’s feelings who might not want to be negative about a certain initiative that's been undertaken,” Ryan explained. “We really think that if the city we're going to do this, it really needs to be done objectively and not with somebody who has that history as a city and employee in the utilities.”
Keys told ABC 17 News the consultant's previous experience with the city was a factor in the selection process, saying their familiarity with city operations made them a good fit for the work.
In a statement shared on Facebook and sent to City Council members, the city manager and Keys, the coalition also pointed to previous consulting agreements and utility projects as examples of what it views as the city's reliance on outside help.
The coalition referenced a 2023 agreement with Black & Veatch, which had a not-to-exceed amount of $249,546 for services related to compliance with federal Lead and Copper Rule Revisions. It also raised concerns about a $42 million metering project approved through special obligation bonds.
“If the City wants to continue to outsource these significant actions of the utility, then serious consideration needs to be given to privatizing the utility,” the coalition wrote.
Ryan said the group wants more opportunities to participate in conversations about major water utility decisions.
“We have asked to be involved in different levels of conversations of things that are happening. Unfortunately, it feels like every time the city does offer a community input, it's done in a way that really isn't trying to get that input. It's trying to just check a box that it's been attempted,” Ryan said. “This isn't really meant to be that we're out to criticize everything the water utility does or everything that city staff does. But we want there to be some visibility of understanding that if you were looking at this from an outside perspective and you're trying to you have a business that is outsourcing everything that's doing. At some point you have to decide, is that business viable?”
The contract comes about a week after the city celebrated the completion of a $37 million upgrade to its McBaine Water Treatment Plant. The project restored the plant's treatment capacity to 32 million gallons per day.
The City Council also approved a 10% water rate increase in August.
