Marthasville Cancels Bids for Street Project

By: T
Posted 9/9/09

The city of Marthasville canceled the bid process for the South Street widening project last Friday, the same day bids were due. The decision was reached, according to city officials, after they …

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Marthasville Cancels Bids for Street Project

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The city of Marthasville canceled the bid process for the South Street widening project last Friday, the same day bids were due. The decision was reached, according to city officials, after they learned the bid specifications didn't include some statutory requirements related to prevailing wage and bond requirements. At Tuesday night's board of aldermen meeting, city attorney Chris Graville said last week was the first time he learned the city staff had prepared the bid documents. "I think the bidding process is too complicated and I think we are too big of a city to put this on administrative staff with only three part-timers working," Graville said. To keep the project moving forward and eliminate the need for a special meeting, aldermen voted 3-0 to authorize Mayor Dale Verges to negotiate with Warrenton-based Lewis-Bade, Inc., as long as the fee did not exceed $2,000 for the bidding package. Alderman Jim Struckhoff was absent from Tuesday's meeting. Graville recommended the city approach Lewis-Bade, which has already performed the preliminary engineering for the project, to see if an arrangement could be worked out. "It's money well spent," Graville said. "If they miss something, then it will be on them to fix it. There's just too many requirements right now." If an agreement can be worked out quickly, Verges envisions the project still can be started this year. Bids should be selected at the next board meeting Oct. 13. "This will keep this moving along," Verges said. "If we delay this any longer, then it's going to be a spring project." The South Street project is aimed at widening the street near the St. Paul's United Church of Christ and the Marthasville Ambulance building to alleviate stormwater run-off that has caused significant erosion problems. Last October, Lewis-Bade submitted preliminary cost estimates to be around $144,000. City officials have indicated previously it was their intent to complete the street improvement in stages. The first two phases are estimated to cost $37,949.18 and $23,702.26, respectively, with most of the funding to address the stormwater issues. The final phase, which includes an asphalt overlay and concrete curbs on the south side of the street, is projected to cost $57,219.73. City Clerk Becky Adams noted that the two bids received were returned unopened along with the $10 fee required to purchase project specifications. Four other firms also purchased bid specs, but hadn't submitted bids by Friday. "I let them know what was happening," she said. Graville added: "We wanted to make sure we didn't lose the surprise of the sealed bid process."


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