City's spoils pile removal proposal receives no bids

Libby's plan to remove a spoils pile near Flower Creek Dam had no takers.

In late July, the city put out a request for proposals with the intent of attracting a contractor interested in dam construction remnants from work done in 2016, but there was no interest.

Now, the removal and disposal of the spoils pile at the dam construction site looks unlikely, as city officials say the pile is stable and there is little reason to disturb it.

In 2016, the excavated sandy silt, gravel, rock and concrete rubble were stockpiled north of Flower Creek Road on city property after the project was over budget.

The composition of the pile is not surveyed, and currently, the stockpile has significant revegetation and the surface is stable.

The city sought proposals to remove the entire pile, adding that when the material was removed the surface would have been graded to control surface runoff from direct discharge to Flower Creek.

When the Flower Creek Dam was built, issues with budget and the project’s timeline arose, and leaving the spoils pile was the solution, City Administrator Samuel Sikes said.

The spoils pile was a way to store a large amount of concrete and gravel instead of paying to haul it off, Sikes said.

“In order for that to occur, the DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality and EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) were involved to approve the change just like every project the city does with our infrastructure,” Sikes said.

The spoils pile has been an issue of debate since it was placed, Sikes said. At one point, there was a plan to use the material to improve U.S Forest Service Road 128, but the road was improved without the use of the spoils material, Sikes said.

City council minutes from previous Libby City Council meetings show that there have been efforts to create a parking lot in the space where the spoils pile currently sits, but these efforts would incur significant costs for the city, Sikes said. Additionally, as evidenced by the lack of interest in the spoils pile materials, the pile is not valued by contractors as much as some had hoped.

The city did not receive any proposals, Mayor Peggy Williams said in the Aug. 7 city council meeting and the council did not take any action regarding the spoils pile.

Eventually, the city will have to re-address the spoils pile to make the language in the source water protection plan current.

City documents will need to have the wording changed to make the permanence of the pile agree with their verbiage, Sikes said. For instance, the Source Water Protection plan has an action item that needs to be labeled as complete under the proposed schedule, Sikes said.

According to city documents, the site needed to be evaluated to see if runoff, soil conditions, site limitations and potential alternatives to pavement would make the site a good place to have a parking lot.

The city engineer has declared the pile stable and no further action is required, Sikes said. This means the Source Water Protection Plan language is all that needs to be updated to show the item completed under the proposed schedule.

“I’ll be getting with the mayor and then the council to see – cause it’s a live document, the Source Water Protection plan – how they would like to proceed,” Sikes said. “So, whether they would like to close it, to leave the spoils pile alone, or if they want to try to leave it on there and go forward,” Sikes said.