Missouri Engineering Association Recognizes SSE at Their Annual Awards Banquet

Stan and Bob pose for photo with project panel

They received the Honor Award for their work on the Hayti Water Treatment Plant.

what a good looking table

CHESTERFIELD, MO – Schultz and Summers Engineering joined over 200 engineers at the annual American Council of Engineering Companies of Missouri (ACEC/MO) awards banquet in Chesterfield, Missouri.  They were one of the 26 awardees on hand to be recognized during the ceremony. ACEC President Bruce Wylie commented, “There were many quality projects to evaluate, but I’m sure the judges considered how serious Hayti’s water situation was and were impressed with how SSE helped them obtain funding, implement cutting edge designs, and provide extra upgrades with the cost savings.”

SSE Owner Stan Schultz added, “For our company to be recognized for our work in rural Missouri is a true honor.  Some of the largest engineering firms in Missouri are here tonight and being included in the group is a testimony to the direction our company is headed.”

SSE won the Honor Award in the Water Resources Category for their work on the Hayti Water Treatment Plant.  Mayor Bobby Watkins said, “Our water was so bad nobody wanted to drink it and DNR was all over us about getting it fixed.  The water issue was the number one issue I believe I was elected to solve.”

Bob, Mayor Watkins and the crew in the new plant

SSE looked at their current plant as well as the old plans and designed a new system that would meet the needs of their citizens, not only today, but well into the future.  The city council took the design and presented it to the voters and a bond issue was passed with an unbelievable 91%.  Schultz and Summers then helped the city with the initial design and costs estimates, and made sure all the required paperwork was filled out properly and turned into the USDA.   

Once Hayti was awarded the $1.9 million grant construction began on a new iron and manganese water treatment plant, three miles of various sized distribution lines, and tank rehabilitation for two elevated tanks in town.  Additionally, this plant is one of the first iron removal plants to operate without an aerator in the state, allowing the City to lower maintenance and operational costs. “The new plant will be much cheaper to operate.  It will produce 1,200 gallons of clean drinking water per minute but use half the electricity, half the chemicals, and half the manpower to operate in comparison to the City’s old plant,” said Watkins.    

Bob, Stan and Rick

The project’s funding was originally $3,391,000.  ($1,475,000 RD Loan; $1,416,000 RD Grant; 500,000 CDBG).  The project was completed approximately $500,000 below cost allowing the City to accomplish several things outside of the original project scope.  The City was able to purchase an automatic meter reading system for all 1,300 meters in town, including three towers to provide instantaneous reading across the entire system.

When presenting the award to Schultz and Summers Rick Sinclair the Master of Ceremonies, described this project by saying, “This project also used a new innovative application to remove iron and manganese, which along with the other improvements has allowed the city to cut the operating expenses in half. Congratulations to Schultz & Summers on this wonderful project.”

  

Kathy, Stan, Bob and Emily

Both SSE principles and the SSE marketing director attended the banquet with their wives.  Bob Summers accepted the award on be-half of the company and he remarked, “We take great pride in this project but receiving recognition for helping improve the lives of our neighbors is a very humbling experience.  Your kind words and encouragement are very appreciated by all our employees and the City of Hayti.  Thanks for a wonderful evening.”   

Bob after everything is done

SSE HELPS HAYTI WITH CLEAN DRINKING WATER

Mayor Watkins and City Council members thank Bob Summers

HAYTI, MO- What do you get when you combine a low water table, an old water plant in disrepair and no money to fix it?  In Hayti, Missouri they were getting citations from MoDNR and the quality of the water their citizens were drinking was terrible.  Mayor Bobby Watkins said, “Our water was so bad nobody wanted to drink it and it became the number one issue I believe I was elected to take on.” 

Schultz and Summers Engineering was asked to help Hayti fix their water quality problems and they immediately sent Marvin Nesbit to assess the situation.  Marvin has helped dozens of communities find the resources they needed provide sewer and water services to their residents.  Nesbit added, “Hayti had a serious problem with their water treatment plant.  DNR was all over them about it and they desperately needed to get it fixed.”  

Marvin Nesbit

SSE looked at their current plant as well as the old plans and designed a new system that would meet the needs of their citizens, not only today, but well into the future.  The city council took the design and presented it to the voters and a bond issue was passed with an unbelievable 91%.  Watkins said, “Our citizens wanted this problem fixed and Marvin, along with all the SSE engineers, came to our public meetings explained the process and answered any questions that the voters asked.  As a first term mayor having someone like Marvin, who had been through the process before and knew how everything worked, made my job a lot easier.”

Schultz and Summers helped apply for the grants and low interest rate loans available through the government programs.  They helped them with the initial design and costs estimates and made sure all the required paperwork was filled out properly and turned into the USDA.  Owner Bob Summers added, “Sometimes it is hard for a small town to afford hiring an engineer to get all the cost estimates and initial designs done before they have been awarded any grants.  Providing rural residents with clean drinking water is important to our company and that’s why we take a chance and provide preliminary work for free to help get the funding they need.”

Mayor Watkins and Bob in front of new Water Plant

Hayti was awarded a $1.9 million grant from the USDA, which allowed them to move forward on completing the design and hiring a contractor to make the improvements.  With SSE’s help their plan was approved and they quickly received their grant.   Through the normal bidding process Robertson Construction was picked to build the new plant.  

The new plant will be much cheaper to operate.  It will produce 1,200 gallons of clean drinking water per minute but use half the electricity, half the chemicals and half the manpower to operate in comparison to the City’s old plant.  The City estimates that they will save over $50,000 a year with the new treatment plant.  Mayor Watkins added, “This plant will be able to produce enough water to handle even emergency situations such as a fire and we now have a generator so that if we lose power, because of an ice storm, our citizens will still have water.  To have a plant that is cheaper to operate but produces more and cleaner water is a dream come true.” 

Dan Koehler in front of 1938 plant

Additionally, Hayti had enough money to repair and fix several water lines, rehabilitate two elevated water towers, as well as purchase a radio read water meter system for the entire city.  “We were able to keep costs down and save money which allowed Hayti to not only build the new plant but to also make other needed repairs to the system,” commented Summers.    

The plant was brought on line in February of 2011 and a ribbon cutting was held in March to announce the official opening.  Over 50 community leader joined the city council members and Mayor Watkins in celebrating this historic milestone for the city of Hayti.  Mayor Watkins concluded, “Schultz and Summers played a huge part in making this happen.  They were there from the beginning and walked us through the whole process starting with public meetings, the bond election, the application process, the bidding process to construction and testing and to finally supplying clean water.  Without Dan Koehler, Marvin Nesbit and Bob Summers we couldn’t have done it.” He added, “Since the new treatment plant came on line people stop me all the time and say how happy they are to be able to actually drink the water from their tap!”