The Chandler Municipal Authority heard updates on the water treatment and wastewater treatment plants expansions at its regular meeting onAug. 11.
Robert Mullins from SRB Engineering said Orr Construction is making progress on the water treatment plant. There was an issue with a clarifier when it was being formed, however Mullins said they were working on a remedy.
“Right now, we’ve got a plan and we think we can get it solved,” he said, adding that if it does end up being a problem, they will bring it back to the Council.
He said that a weld broke on the form and it busted from the bottom which led to the concrete draining out of that section. They were able to get a smooth surface all the way from the top to thebottom and put the water stop in when the concrete was still wet enough that it stuck.
Mullins also clarified what took place during a tiein, which had water levels low for a short period. A chlorine vault was being tied into the clear well, resulting in a shortage of water at the time. The clear wells downtown got low and one of the rural water districts had problems getting water.
“What we found is that the tie-in probably exacerbated the problem, but it wasn’t the problem. The problem was that we’ve got a couple of broken valves down in the filter,” he said, adding that the valves are original to the plant.
They are working on cost estimates to replace the valves, but that was the root of the water shortage.
“You are not running out of water.And you never ran out of water,” he said. “All your towers were full… It’s just those two clarifiers got down to about two feet, and that kind of worried everybody… And then we got water flowing again.”
Mullins said the filters were being backwashed a lot as it was believed it was a dirty filter problem, which was also causing a water shortage, so workers have been instructured not to backwash anymore.
Benjamin Boateng then presented on the wastewater treatment plant, saying that they hope to be completed by December. Currently, construction is being done on concrete pads with the last of the equipment expected to be delivered in October.
The CMA approved a pay app of $269,562.50 and another for $69,231.25 to Orr Construction for the wastewater plant to be paid by the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma.
In the City Council meeting that took place right after, the Council approved the fee schedule for 20262027, pending the addition of a rental fee for Reed Park and an amendment to the pool reservation fee for large parties that require multiple lifeguards.
It also approved Ordinance 2026-07 that rezoned sections of the Timber Ridge III addition to Residential Estates from unzoned.
The Council approved a lease agreement with the Chandler Community Development TrustAuthority, pending revisions and edits, such as determining term lengths and sending the trust a check-list of tasks to complete to ensure that everything is accurately recorded and in line with other such groups.
It also approved new accounting software for City Hall. Currently, they are using gWorks, but will switch to Caselle, which is more integrated and will reduce the number of manual entries that the staff currently has to do.
The software comes with a one-time investment of $90,000 and an annual renewal fee of $48,000. Currently, the City pays $36,000 in an annual fee for gWorks, but it also absorbs almost $22,000 in credit card fees. It will switch these fees to the customer, meaning the City will save roughly $10,000 overall.