In a 3-2 vote Tuesday night the Junction City Commission awarded a professional services contract to Raftelis Financial Consultants Inc. to complete a city water and sewer rate analysis.

The analysis will provide a detailed financial business plan that will be used to fund the estimated $64 million needed improvements to the city’s water and wastewater treatment plants.

Commissioners Mick McCallister and Jim Sands were the two that did not vote in favor of the contract.

One concern brought up by McCallister was that the schedule for the project is aggressive,” I think there are a lot of folk’s out there that would have would like to have been in on the project had that time line not been so aggressive.”

McCallister further explained that just by looking at the bids the city did receive, there was a disparity of $29,000 between the low bidder and the high bidder.

Greg McCaffery, Municipal Services Director, explained that the low bidder was a one person shop and the information that that bidder submitted did not fit the city’s criteria.

“I think our thought when we reviewed their proposal on qualifications alone they clearly, at least it appeared to us, missed the entire track as far as what we were looking for,” McCaffery explained.

It was also questioned why a water and sewer rate analysis could not be done in house by the city’s Financial Director, Cheryl Beatty.

Beatty explained that every five to ten years it is good to bring in an outside source to make sure things are being done right.

“Even if I had the time available to do that, I would still recommend to you to go to an outside agency,” Beatty said.

Beatty completed the last in house analysis three years ago.

The city will spend no more than $45,220 on the analysis that will be performed by Rafetlis Financial Consultants Inc..