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OMAHA — An Omaha City Council decision on a controversial $411 million proposal with McCarthy Building Companies for expansion and upgrades to the city’s wastewater treatment system has been postponed until April 7.
Council members Tuesday, during their weekly meeting, said the delay allows time to review a newly proposed amendment and also considers a week the council has off.
The project at hand is the second phase expansion of the city’s Papillion Creek Water Resource Recovery Facility, which is designed to meet the growing metro area’s wastewater treatment needs through 2050. The city has budgeted about $565 million over six years, including for the McCarthy contract, a proposed $88.5 million for special aerobic granular sludge equipment and construction of a new Omaha Public Power District substation.
Councilman Brinker Harding said he hadn’t yet reviewed the new amendment. But he noted that he responded to several emails from members of the public since last week’s contentious public hearing.
Harding said he has several questions about the proposal between the city and Missouri-based McCarthy but that his main concern related to a language change that would allow McCarthy to “self-perform” more work than was originally agreed by the city.
That, in effect, nudges out some subcontractors from participating, and critics contend it also raises overall costs and transparency doubts. Opponents of the McCarthy deal, including longtime Omaha-based Hawkins Construction Company, criticized other aspects. Hawkins claimed it could do the same work for about $78 million less and asked the council to start a new open bidding process.
The proposal before the council is essentially the more complex and detailed sequel to a $4 million September 2024 contract in which the city selected McCarthy to do pre-construction and design work for the wastewater project.
Under the “Construction Manager at Risk” project delivery method, which is a relatively new contracting process for the City of Omaha, the council now is asked to approve the $411 million “guaranteed maximum price” for work laid out in a roughly 180-page agreement.
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