GUILFORD – After more than two years of work and several trips back to the drawing board, the Town of Guilford is one step closer to getting its new highway garage and town hall. Bids for preliminary sitework and general construction of the two buildings were awarded Wednesday night.
“The work has really just begun,” said building committee chairperson Sue McIntyre at the end of the town board meeting where the bids were awarded. “It’s a relief to know that the project is still advancing.”
The fate of the project appeared in jeopardy when it was revealed that the bids, opened on Aug. 5, were higher than the committee and town board had hoped.
“The bids were kind of discouraging,” said town councilman and building committee member Bruce Winsor. “We’re going to have to make some decisions. It doesn’t look like we’ll have enough within the $1.65 million to do this.”
Separate bids had been requested for site construction, general construction, plumbing, HVAC and electrical. Each request included a base bid for a four-bay highway garage plus several alternates. The site construction bid, for example, included alternates for the construction of a retention pond, septic system and sitework and parking for the town hall.
“It’s almost a cafeteria-style bidding,” said Winsor – the advantage being that the town would be able to pick the options that they feel are most important. One alternate, which the board and committee all agreed was non-negotiable, was a fifth bay for the highway garage.
“We’re not happy that we can’t get it all,” said building committee member Francis Hubbard. “But I think we need to do what we can.”
“We’ve got to be creative,” added town councilman Joe Zaczek.
There was much discussion on the use of roughly $318,000 the town has set aside for the project over the last three years. Wording of the bond approved by voters last year, after having rejected it twice, states that the project’s cost could not exceed the $1.65 million bond amount.
There was concern that the issue would need to be put before voters again to approve use of the extra funds, but based on the recommendations of the New York State Comptroller’s Office there seems to be another way. Town accountant Janice Rideout reported that, according to the Comptroller’s office, the town could use the money they’ve set aside to cover “preliminary project costs.” These preliminary expenses would include soft costs such as architectural, engineering, insurance and legal fees.
“If we are able to categorize sitework as pre-development, then this project is reachable,” said McIntyre.
Based on the building committee’s recommendations, the board approved the award of the site construction bid to apparent low bidder Stevens Excavating of Otego for the base project and retention pond. The bid for the awarded work was $311,675.
The general construction bid was awarded to Richard W. Wakeman of Sidney to include the construction of a 5-bay highway garage with supplemental insulation with the apparent low bid of $787,000.
McIntyre said she was pleased with the result. “The sitework and buildings were time sensitive,” said the committee chair regarding the importance of the board’s decision. Site construction must be completed before any other work can begin and the highway garage will be prefabricated off-site.
Town Supervisor Al Doyle commended the building committee on their efforts. “They’ve really gone above and beyond trying to save the taxpayers money,” said Doyle.
Decisions regarding the award of the other three bids (for plumbing, HVAC and electrical) will wait for the board’s next meeting in two weeks.
“We will continue to refine cash flow figures and come back to the next meeting with further recommendations,” said McIntyre.
The Town of Guilford’s next board meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 26 at the current town hall.