Engineers told the Rapid City Legal & Finance Committee on Dec. 10 that construction at the Wastewater Reclamation Facility (WRF) South Plant is about 37% complete and remains on a broader funding plan that includes ARPA grant money and an SRF loan.

Eddie Lopez, a professional engineer with the city, reviewed project milestones since construction began. He said the secondary clarifier and splitter box were completed in July 2025, the concrete slab of the south electrical building was finished in August, and roof panels were placed over the existing dewatering building in October. Lopez said precast panels for the south electrical building are expected to arrive in January or February, weather permitting, and that winter work will focus on electrical installations and process piping.

Lopez identified change order No. 2, which he said will go to council with a price tag of $404,155. He explained that while designers had planned to rehabilitate the primary clarifier walkways by replacing internal mechanical equipment, a closer inspection from below after tanks were drained found the walkways "corroded beyond repair." Because of that condition, the city must replace the walkways rather than rehabilitate them.

"When we were looking at it originally ... it was determined that it was feasible to just replace the equipment and keep the existing structure where it's at," Lopez said. "Once we were able to do a closer inspection from down below ... those walkways were actually corroded beyond repair."

Lopez summarized contract and budget status: encumbrances on the project total about $204,700,000; roughly $76,800,000 of construction is complete and about $127,300,000 remains. He said net change orders to date amount to a bit over $500,000 — roughly 0.32% of the original contract — with value-added requests of about $169,000 offset in part by roughly $900,000 in unforeseen conditions. Funding called out included $52,800,000 in ARPA grant funds and an SRF loan (figures as presented by the city).

Committee members praised the project team for planning and cost control. Council Member Lindsay Seacrest asked what industry benchmarks for change-order percentages look like; Lopez said that 2–3% of project cost is a typical target and that the project’s current change-order percentage is low for a project of this scale. Council Member Bill Evans singled out what he described as "very good planning" and congratulated the team on managing the project.

The committee moved to acknowledge the presentation and will see change order No. 2 on the council docket for formal action.