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ALPENA -- Northeast Michigan Materials Management Authority (NMMMA) received three bids for the authority’s new materials recovery facility (MRF), and awarded the project to Three Rivers Corporation out of Midland, on Thursday. The company bid the project at a base bid of $3.294 million.
Devere Industrial, LLC of Alpena also submitted a base bid price of $3.479 million and RCL Construction of Sandford proposed a base bid price of $3.945 million.
NMMMA Executive Director Bailey Barr told The News that the reason why the NMMMA board went with Three Rivers is because it was the lesser of the three options and included an addition of a permanent office space.
Barr said that the proposal is contingent upon a bank approving the bonds to help pay for the project, along with securing insurance.
He added that an alternate design for the project was to include a temporary office trailer, and a permanent office addition would have had to be paid for in the future.
"If we had to go with an office trailer, in the long term, that would not have been an ideal situation," he said. "Every company threw in what the price would be for a trailer versus a permanent structure."
He added that Devere's base bid price included a temporary office trailer.
Overall, Barr said that he believes NMMMA received more bids for this request for proposal (RFP) cycle than before because they had a thorough design plan and documentation. For the previous bid cycle, NMMMA only received one proposal from Devere.
"I'm pretty confident it was how we went to bid," he said. "Everything was included in the drawings this time. There is no discretion."
Barr added that for the previous bid, the authority issued a general "land layout" design with dimensions.
"We just said, 'This is the land layout, this is the rough dimension,'" he said. "There left so much uncertainty."
In December, NMMMA awarded the previous RFP to Devere for $3.8 million, which added an additional $500,000 to $700,000 to the expected cost. The authority reissued bids in August and awarded Three Rivers the RFP on Thursday.
To fund the project, the authority has received a $2.7 million USDA grant; $1.2 million grant from the EGLE; and funding from local organizations. The authority also has the ability to use $1.6 million in Alpena County bonds to pay for however much the cost exceeds the amount of grant funding the authority has received thus far.
In total, the authority has $5.6 million to spend, though Barr previously stated that NMMMA wants to minimize the amount of bonds they have to sell since those will have to be paid back.
In September 2025, the authority approved the purchase of new sorting equipment that cost about $2.1 million, after factoring in tariffs since the company is based in Quebec, Canada.
Barr said that the RFP process this time likely brought in more "reasonable" prices for the project.
"We had all the documentation and design done before bidding," he said. "The pricing came in a lot more reasonable. There are zero unknowns."
In accordance with grant stipulations, the authority and the contracting company has until Nov. 11, 2027 to complete the construction, according to Barr. After the completion of the construction, the equipment company can begin installing which will take about two months.
Barr said the board is hopeful that the new MRF will be operational within the first quarter of 2028.
Barr has previously explained that by 2030, each county will be required by the state to offer recycling. He said that the new MRF will make this transition more cost effective, reducing shipping costs.
“The facility will bring multiple job openings and we will act as the Northeast Michigan recycling hub,” he told The News in February. "By 2030, there will be hard requirements by each county … it will be key for Northeast Michigan.”
Counties in Northeast Michigan will all take their recycling materials to the NMMMA MRF, according to Barr. If the MRF is not built in Northeast Michigan, Barr said that counties would likely have to ship their recycling to Emmett County.
Currently, NMMMA provides recycling for Alpena, Alcona, Iosco, Montmorency, and Oscoda counties. Barr said that the Iosco program is growing rapidly.
"It's insane how much by month we bring in from them," he said. "Its just going to grow from here. We just need a place to put it."
Barr said that the bigger goal, after the first two years or so of operating out of the facility, the authority would like to establish curbside pickup. He said this would be a phased initiative and that it will likely create more "clean" and "consistent" streams of material management.
"To handle that capacity, we need a building first," he said. "This is just one step of many that will increase capacity and increase jobs."
Barr added that as recycling grows in the community, the facility will need more labor to meet the demand.
"We are going to need more people … more hands on deck," he said.
At that time, Barr said that the community will have to keep in mind that if curbside recycling is something the community wants, they will have to be willing to accept a higher tax.
"Residents will have to understand the tax will probably have to go up to offer more services, to be able to expand services," he said. "I think Alpena County is ready for it."
Kayla Wikaryasz can be reached at 989-358-5688 or kwikaryasz@TheAlpenaNews.com.