The Willcox City Council met in a special session Monday to reconsider a critical wastewater infrastructure contract that has nearly doubled in cost due to what officials are calling a "staff error.”
The project, which involves the cleaning and video inspection of the city’s aging sewer system, was originally approved in March at a price of $284,581. But as the city moved to finalize the agreement with contractor Pro-Pipe, Inc., officials discovered that the initial scope of work was based on incorrect data.
According to city documents, staff inadvertently used the wrong measurement metric and provided an inaccurate quantity of sewer lines to be inspected. When the figures were corrected to reflect the actual footage of the city’s infrastructure, the contract price jumped to $538,100.
The council unanimously approved to move ahead with the contract and price adjustment. The city leaders previously voted to table the item during their April 21 meeting, with members seeking a "complete explanation" for the sharp increase before moving forward with a vote.
The project is part of a broader effort to modernize Willcox’s wastewater collection system, which consists of 397 manholes and approximately 167,458 linear feet of gravity sewer mains, according to city officials.
Public Works Director Robert Linton noted in his report to the council that the city's infrastructure is aging and vulnerable to factors such as structural deterioration, corrosion and root intrusion. Without regular maintenance and inspection, these issues can lead to sanitary sewer overflows and environmental hazards.
The proposed contract would utilize Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) inspections to provide a high-definition internal view of the pipes. This data will allow the city to identify defects and prioritize repairs before they become emergency situations, which officials say are far more costly to fix.
Despite the budget increase, city staff maintained that the updated contract represents the "best value" for residents.
To confirm the pricing was still fair, the city reached out to other vendors. Those estimates ranged from $800,000 to $1.5 million, significantly higher than the revised Pro-Pipe proposal.
The city is able to keep costs relatively low by utilizing a cooperative purchasing contract through the City of Mesa, which allows Willcox to benefit from a larger municipality's competitive bidding process. The work is being funded entirely through a $2,000,000 grant from the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona (WIFA).
City officials confirmed that no general fund or wastewater utility funds will be used for this phase of the project.
