MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Morgantown Utility Board has agreed upon a new contract to support the design of the new maintenance garage for the utility’s vehicles.
A contract with OMNI Architects valued at approximately $213,000, to design the project that is projected to cost approximately $1.5 million, was unanimously approved during a regular meeting of the board of directors Tuesday night. MUB General Manager Mike McNulty discussed the need for the new facility that would increase the storage capacity of their current facility as well as add extra amenities that will allow for prolonged upkeep of vehicles that support a variety of MUB-related maintenance work and upgrading projects.
“The new maintenance garage will house our large tanker and vacuum trucks,” said McNulty. “Right now our existing garage space is pretty limited, and we have to keep those inside, especially in the wintertime, because we can’t let any of the components freeze.”
The upgraded MUB Maintenance Shop Garage will consist of a modernization of the facility located just behind their Greenbag Road headquarters. This will include an upgraded heating system for the interior of the facility as well as a new wash bay, which will allow for vehicles involved in heavy-labor projects to be cleaned off and avoid any damage that could affect long-term use. With the Morgantown Utility Board continuing to grow as a result of the acceptance of other water utilities into the MUB system, the extra facility space is considered to be greatly needed.
“The newest garage will be heated, of course, and then it will also have a new wash bay to wash the trucks down and empty those out,” said McNulty.
The funding for the design of the project will involve an agreement with Strand Associates that will bundle this with several other projects as part of a pitch for outside funding, an agreement that was also approved by the MUB board on Tuesday. The bundle of projects that will be pitched for large-scale funding will include a complete line replacement along Monongahela Boulevard, two water storage tank upgrades, and for improvements to the Sabraton booster station and Union booster station, among others. The plan is that the bundle of close to a dozen projects will help funding requests be considered on a state level.
“We’ll probably look at both at probably around the same time,” said McNulty in regard to reaching out to private and public sector funding opportunities. “I think we’ll be making our contacts with various groups in the private sector, and we’ll also be talking with the WVDA and the West Virginia IJDC (Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council) as well.”
The hope for MUB administrators is that the design phase contracted to OMNI Architects will be completed before the end of summer 2025. That will take place around the same time as the project is pitched along with several other MUB-related proposals that will be pitched to both private and public sector funding opportunities throughout the year. With the hope that shovels can officially be put in the ground to start building the new maintenance shop garage by the end of 2026, McNulty is ready to move the project forward so that there is no vehicle at risk when winter arrives.
“They’ll probably get started with design fairly quickly, and I would say that probably within the next day or so, then we’ll probably see something in the next few months,” said McNulty.