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The sole bid for the North Buffalo Street plaza project was rejected Friday by the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety due to the bid amount.
Clerk-Treasurer Lynne Christiansen told the Board of Works that the bid was opened Monday morning in the city council chambers. It was from R. Yoder Construction Inc., Nappanee, for $1,996,692.
City Planner Jeremy Skinner said the bid was about half a million dollars more than what the cost estimate for the project was.
“We only received one bid. This isn’t a great time of year for the bid, especially for projects like this. It is my recommendation that you reject all bids. We will meet with the engineering firm that we hired – StructurePoint – to go over the plans and project, to review what changes, if any, we need to make as well as maybe the timing of the project,” he said.
During the pre-bid meeting for the plaza project, Skinner said there was some concern expressed with not being able to get the project completed within the time frame allotted.
“So we’ll review all that with the engineering firm and look to rebid this project sometime in the next month or so with the intent of probably changing the time frame of the project,” he said.
The board rejected the bid.
The plaza will be near Center Lake on the north end of Buffalo Street and is part of the North Buffalo Street project, which includes upgrading the road and a housing development. The former Indiana American Water Co. building will become a mixed-use structure.
Also on the board’s agenda Friday was the opening of bids for the police, parks and street departments.
Three sealed quotes were received for four 2020 Ford Interceptor Utility all-wheel-drive vehicles for the Warsaw Police Department.
B-Town’s Community Ford Lincoln from Bloomington bid $140,633 with an option of delivery of the vehicles, if needed, for $80 per vehicle.
Rice Ford in Warsaw bid $142,560, while Kerlin Ford in Silver Lake bid $140,757.72.
Christiansen asked Police Chief Scott Whitaker if the costs included trade-ins, and he said they did not. Whitaker requested the bids be taken under advisement and a recommendation would be made at the Board of Works’ next meeting. The board approved Whitaker’s request.
The next bid opening was for the parks department for the Lucerne Park amphitheater reconstruction project. The sole bid was from Roche Constructors Inc. for $208,700. Parks Superintendent Larry Plummer asked that the bid be taken under advisement, and the board approved that request.
Two bids were received by the street department for paving of West Center Street. Phend & Brown bid $205,404, while E & B Paving Inc. bid $238,000. Per Street Superintendent Jeff Beeler’s request, the bids were taken under advisement.
Beeler also told the board about an amendment “for Lawson-Fisher Associates to their original design proposal for the traffic signal modernization at Buffalo and Center” streets due to “unforeseen issues as we got into the design process of the street lighting and having to move the signal poles around from the original design.”
The change will increase the cost of the project by $9,900.
Board member Jeff Grose asked if it have to be moved feet or inches, and Beeler said it would be feet.
“It was moved feet and we’re hopefully moving it back to where the old poles were due to removing them differently than they normally do,” Beeler said.
Christiansen asked if that would interfere with the county’s new plaza on the courthouse square. Beeler said it would be “right up next to it” but the project will interfere with that whole block.
The board approved the amendment and increased cost. Beeler said he was “excited to get it done.”
