Irrigation project turns off… for now

Readers whose attention span has not been destroyed by TikTok and general social media use may recall that when city council went on for more than an hour talking about where to allow off-leash dog “recreation” options, one of the sticking points was Wilbur Square

Beyond Councilman Steve Walton, who backed off his previous strong objection to an arrangement where the park would be available for unleashed dogs during certain hours, city staff pushed back on starting a “pilot” program of off-leash hours in the “jewel” of a park at the top of the city until after January. This is because of a planned project to replace the park’s irrigation system during the first four to six weeks of 2026.

Well, that water for that idea appears to have been turned off — at least for now.

The issue, as it so often is, was money.

Since that off-leash meeting just a month ago, the bids for the project came in and they were much higher than the budget.

The budget was for $235,600. Two bids came in. One was for an eye-popping $820,672 and the other for a relatively sedate $596,915. A proposal to reject all bids was in the consent agenda for Tuesday’s council meeting.

“These improvements are intended to enhance system performance, support long-term park maintenance, and further the city’s ongoing water conservation efforts by improving irrigation efficiency and reducing overall water consumption,” said Public Works Director Gary Poindexter. “Work for the project will include replacing the existing irrigation system with an upgraded automated system to serve the park’s turfgrass areas, installation of a new mainline and lateral piping (mainline and laterals are more than 40 years old), booster pump equipment (Will allow for multiple valves to water at the same time and decrease the water window needed to get the amount of water needed), pedestal-mounted irrigation controller, rain sensor, flow valve assembly, gate valves, valve boxes, and quick coupling valves. The system will utilize a conventional low-voltage wire setup with supplementary two-wired cable for future conversion.”

Poindexter is still referring to the project in the present tense. This is because, according to city staff, a new request for proposal was due to go out Wednesday morning. What was not said was if the scope of the project would have to be cut back or if the budget would have to go up.

“In November, two bids came in over the allocated project budget. After reviewing the bids, staff determined that awarding a contract at this time would not serve the best interests of the city and, therefore, recommended that all bids received be rejected by city council,” said City Manager Ned Thomas.