Mentone Egg Plans Fail To Hatch
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Mentone fell $29,000 short in its private quest for an egg-shaped water tower due to a increasingly competitive tank market.
At Thursday's bid opening only one company offered an alternate bid for the egg-shaped structure at Thursday's bid opening. In all, three bids were received for the water storage tank.
The Mentone Chamber of Commerce submitted a letter prior to the opening of bids pledging $30,000 to pay for the alternate tank. Their contribution was not close to the $59,000 one company tacked on its bid to manufacture the egg.
All of the bids went way over what engineers said they would be, said Rita Price, president of the Mentone Chamber of Commerce.
"If they would have come in at what the engineer said on the prebid we would have been all right," said a disappointed Price.
But the market is surprisingly high for tank construction all over the country, according to Mark Downey, Commonwealth Engineers, Indianapolis. Downey said all bids received for Mentone's water project were high.
"The one thing that did shock me was that we had three bids and two of them did not bid the egg option," said Downey. "I talked to one of the companies afterward and they basically said 'We are so busy that we can't afford the time to shut down and retool.' "
The entire project, according to Downey, is 30 percent higher than originally estimated because of a busy season for tank manufacturers. And that may put a crimp on the water project.
A special work session is scheduled for the Mentone Town Council at 4:30 p.m. Monday. The council will be reviewing the bids on the water project trying to decide how best to resolve the higher cost.
So now the standard shape tank will get a paint job thanks to private support.
"Plan B is to paint that tank with our logo," said Price. The chamber plans that the paint job will come from the contributions pledged, but it should be much less than the $30,000 pledged.
"We appreciate people's most generous donations. The response was tremendous, over and above what we ever imagined," said Price. [[In-content Ad]]
Mentone fell $29,000 short in its private quest for an egg-shaped water tower due to a increasingly competitive tank market.
At Thursday's bid opening only one company offered an alternate bid for the egg-shaped structure at Thursday's bid opening. In all, three bids were received for the water storage tank.
The Mentone Chamber of Commerce submitted a letter prior to the opening of bids pledging $30,000 to pay for the alternate tank. Their contribution was not close to the $59,000 one company tacked on its bid to manufacture the egg.
All of the bids went way over what engineers said they would be, said Rita Price, president of the Mentone Chamber of Commerce.
"If they would have come in at what the engineer said on the prebid we would have been all right," said a disappointed Price.
But the market is surprisingly high for tank construction all over the country, according to Mark Downey, Commonwealth Engineers, Indianapolis. Downey said all bids received for Mentone's water project were high.
"The one thing that did shock me was that we had three bids and two of them did not bid the egg option," said Downey. "I talked to one of the companies afterward and they basically said 'We are so busy that we can't afford the time to shut down and retool.' "
The entire project, according to Downey, is 30 percent higher than originally estimated because of a busy season for tank manufacturers. And that may put a crimp on the water project.
A special work session is scheduled for the Mentone Town Council at 4:30 p.m. Monday. The council will be reviewing the bids on the water project trying to decide how best to resolve the higher cost.
So now the standard shape tank will get a paint job thanks to private support.
"Plan B is to paint that tank with our logo," said Price. The chamber plans that the paint job will come from the contributions pledged, but it should be much less than the $30,000 pledged.
"We appreciate people's most generous donations. The response was tremendous, over and above what we ever imagined," said Price. [[In-content Ad]]