FOLLANSBEE – City officials are looking for an extra boost in order to move forward on a long-planned water improvement project.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently opened bids on the project, which had been reconfigured after a round of bids held last fall came in at approximately $9.5 million.

The latest round of bids, held by the Army Corps as a condition of the project, also came in slightly over.

“We’re about $500,000 over,” Mayor Scott McMahon explained during Follansbee Council’s April 13 regular meeting.

As part of the project, the city was providing $1 million, with the Army Corps set to provide $3.1 million.

McMahon announced he had requested City Manager Chris Manack-Stover to reach out to local financial institutions to look into what options the city might have in order to receive the additional funding necessary for the project.

“We’re kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place,” McMahon said

McMahon said another avenue of potential assistance with the water project, and other efforts in planning for Follansbee, was ongoing communications with the office of Gov. Patrick Morrisey, as well as local legislators.

Those efforts included plans to meet with Morrisey while the governor was in Weirton last week to announce $3.3 million in aid for the Weirton Area Water Board.

“We’ve put together a very detailed historical document,” McMahon said.

As part of the downsizing of the project, the priority will be on upgrades to the downtown water treatment plant, which serves customers within the city’s boundaries.

According to a description from the Army Corps., the project includes upgrading the existing 700 gallons per minute water treatment plant to a 1,000 gallons per minute capacity, through the replacement of a well pump, installation of two new 60 horsepower filter feed pumps, replacement of underdrains, filter media, control valves and control systems for the existing three pressure filters, the installation of two new 150 horsepower high service pumps, demolition of the existing potassium permanganate feed and storage equipment, replacement of pumps in the raw water pump station, electrical work, piping, painting, and perimeter fence modifications.

The project is expected to take one year to complete.

(Howell can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com)