WILMINGTON — Upgrades are coming to the city’s wastewater treatment facilities.

At a special meeting on Tuesday, the Wilmington City Council approved a resolution allowing Safety/Service Director Brian Shidaker to select a progressive design-build team to design and construct new wastewater treatment facilities.

Designs for the plant and establishing the criteria for it with an engineer began in February.

Public Works Director Rick Schaffer expects construction of the new plant will occur in 2022 and 2023, with the hopes of it being open in January 2024.

The plan is to make general updates to the facilities.

Schaffer made it clear that the $24 million estimated for the project is not the actual cost.

“That is not the number. It’ll be a big number, we don’t know what that number is yet,” said Schaffer.

Councilmember Nick Eveland indicated at this meeting, and at the previous meeting, he hoped to still meet the team that Shidaker chooses for this project.

At the previous council meeting, Shidaker told Eveland that he and a committee had been going over applicants for two days.

“It started off with a request for qualifications. We received six legitimate firms,” said Shidaker. “We scored the top three who then got to come in for an interview.

“They weren’t 15-minute interviews. We spent all day interviewing them, drilling them with questions.”

He added they have a “criteria engineer” that’s been advising them on who they think is the most qualified.

Also during council:

• Council approved a resolution allowing Shidaker to apply for funding of the upgrades for the wastewater treatment facilities from the Ohio EPA Water Pollution Control Fund. This would go to the design and construction of the facilities.