Utility board awards bid to demolish Elmer Smith Station

Jan. 21—The city utility commission has hired a contractor to demolish the old OMU Elmer Smith Station, as well as decommissioned water and power plants near Owensboro Middle School. The work, an OMU official said Thursday, could begin by early spring.

Thursday afternoon, utility commission members voted to contract with National Salvage & Service Corp., of Bloomington, Indiana, to demolish the Elmer Smith Station on Kentucky 144 and OMU Plant A/Plant 1 near the middle school. The total amount of the demolition contract is $4.143 million.

The Elmer Smith Station was decommissioned in 2020. OMU general manager Kevin Frizzell said the initial cost of demolishing the Elmer Smith Station was $41 million, and the agency went with a $21 million option that called for removing hazardous material from the site and demolishing the stacks.

The utility has spent $13.8 million since June 2020 removing hazardous materials at the station. But, when officials solicited bids to remove the stacks in May of last year, they were told the market price for scrap metal had increased, and it could be possible to demolish the station for less than the original cost. The value of the scrap brings down the project cost.

The utility could have the entire facility demolished "because scrap prices have rebounded tremendously over the last two years," Frizzell said. So the project now includes demolishing Plant A and Plant 1.

The contract calls for National Salvage & Service to retain all of the salvaged scrap.

Brad Howton, OMU director of production, said the stacks at the station will be taken down before the rest of the demolition. After the meeting, Sonya Dixon, OMU communications and public relations specialist, said the project is expected to take 18 months. Work will hopefully begin in early spring, Dixon said.

Changes in the scrap metal market will not affect the project, Frizzell said.

"Once we sign the contract, the risk the scrap metal declines is on them," Frizzell said. He noted that the contractor expects scrap metal prices to increase.

The board also voted to hire Wood Environmental and Infrastructure Solutions Inc., to oversee the project.

Wood worked with OMU on reviewing the demolition and drawing up specifications. The contract calls for Wood to be paid up to $1.5 million for the work, which will involve Wood officials being on-site when work is being done. With the contract to Wood, the cost of the project is $5.643 million.

"This is such a blessing for our rate payers," board member Tony Cecil said.

The cost will be paid out of $8 million that was already budgeted when the utility was pursuing the $21 million option.

James Mayse, 270-691-7303, jmayse@messenger-inquirer.com, Twitter: @JamesMayse