POST FALLS — A $3.1 million upgrade to the water reclamation facility is expected to begin in October after the Post Falls City council voted to unanimously approve an agreement with Apollo Inc. on Tuesday. 

The Guaranteed Maximum Price agreement will have the city pay $2.3 million for Project 1 of the upgrades. The total estimated cost is $3.1 million.

According to Andrew Albini, projects division manager for Post Falls, Project 1 will install a new dewatering unit at the reclamation center on 2002 W. Seltice Way. 

J-U-B Engineers’ design for the project was approved in July 2025. 

“It's somewhat remarkable how much we accomplished on this project in the past year,” Albini said. 

According to Albini, early projections are that Project 2 will cost around $40 million, due to it being a much larger upgrade in scope than Project 1, and should come before the council next year.

The approvals cover Project 1 of the upgrades under a Construction Manager/General Contractor delivery method. 

The city typically uses the Design-Bid-Build method, but opted for the CMGC method because of the proximity to other services, shutdowns and risk management.  

Councilman Marc Lucca was resistant to the CMGC method pointing to the higher price tag associated with it.  

“Anytime there is a GMP contract, there is risk that’s priced into that, that, much like the insurance business, is unlikely to happen,” Lucca said.

Albini said the next steps are to bid out sub-work packages, and that Project 1 construction would begin in October. It is estimated to complete around July 2027.