Thursday, November 23, 2006

Price tag on Oskaloosa city hall less than estimated

by Kenneth Lassiter

Oskaloosa city council members got a fix on the price tag of a new city hall building Nov. 16. One of the few questions left now to be answered is: Is the price right?

Six bids from various area construction companies were opened at the start of the council’s regular meeting with only council member Kelly Hattemer not present. Jay Zimmerscheid, architect with BG Consultants, the city’s contracted engineering firm, was present to help guide the council through the bid opening and representatives from several of the bidding companies were present to see how their respective price matched the market.

Each company submitted a base price as well as three alternative potential deductions for changes to the specifications on siding, insulation and trim on the building that would be built on the site of the now demolished city hall along Delaware Street just south of the square.

Following is a short summary of the bids:

• Comfort Craft Homes submitted a base bid of $263,097 with a completion date of May 20. • Kearney and Sons submitted a base bid of $272,078 with a completion date of April 30. • Glanville Construction submitted a base bid of $223,331 with a completion date of June 15. • Shirley Construction submitted a base bid of $213,500 with a completion date of May 15. • May Contractors submitted a base bid of $252,850 with a completion date of June 1. • GSTL Construction submitted a base bid of $293,400 and a completion date of May 19.

Zimmerscheid thanked the bidders for their bids and said he would take the bids for review to make sure the low bidder – Shirley Construction – met the project specifications. The contractor representatives left the meeting and Zimmerscheid asked council members for any input.

Council members have questioned if the project will be done in the very near future because of city-wide sewer improvements that have taken precedence in recent months. Council members decided to go ahead and have Zimmerscheid and other BG representatives review the bids for compliance and make a recommendation to the council.

With the sewer project slated to cost at least $1.4 million, council members said they needed to decide if and how they were going to pay to move forward with the project now. Cost estimates had placed construction cost for the new hall at more than $300,000, so the low $213,500 bid fell well below that ballpark figure. The city had planned to lease-purchase the building through Denison State Bank of Meriden.

Zimmerscheid pointed out the price was “substantially lower than anticipated,” as a bid of $240,000 would have been a cost of $109 per square foot. Council member Allen Wise asked if any cuts could be made to the cost of excavation at the site, as geotechnical study of the site called for massive dirt work to prepare for the building. He pointed out that just north of the site, where a new Cotton-O’Neil clinic is being built, little excavation work was done.

“We’re basically excavating dirt the size of a basement,” Wise said. “Then, next door, they’re troweling the concrete as we speak and didn’t move much, if any, dirt.”

Zimmerscheid said BG needed to follow the geotechnical recommendation when sending out the bids and any tendency with the geotechnical study would be to err on the side of caution to make sure the site is as safe as it can for the new building. He asked if the old city hall had experienced the ground shifting beneath it and city officials said there hadn’t been any. Council members asked if Zimmerscheid could talk to the geotechnical engineers to see if less excavation could be done that would therefore lower the project price.

“(The excavation price tag) is still substantially higher than it needs to be,” Wise said. “We’re preparing it for the Empire State Building and building basically the equivalent of a two-car garage.”

Zimmerscheid plans to meet with the council again at its next meeting Dec. 7.

City Maintenance Superintendent Bill Heard also reported spot repairs were done to sewer lines along Kansas Street as authorized by the council at its Nov. 2 meeting. Heard said the problems were as he suspected and the bill should be “substantially” under the $20,000 authorized for the work. He also warned city officials that, if a large-scale sewer project commences, the city’s 10-foot easements would likely cause headaches as the city needs more room than that to make needed repairs. City Attorney Jan Hayes said temporary construction easements could likely be worked on to solve those problems.

Council members also voted Nov. 16 to approve an extra $1,880 on the contract of Governmental Assistance Services for environmental study work in preparation for the search for funding help for the sewer project. Council members had tabled that decision Nov. 2 but decided Nov. 16 it was a needed expenditure to ensure adequate support for applications for loan and grant funds.

In other business Nov. 16, the council:

• Appointed Ann Hundley to the Jayhawk Area Agency on Aging advisory board.

• Approved a $45 adjustment to the water bill of Roy Downs at 502 Warren for a leak.

• Approved spending up to $2,500 on tires and a new hydraulic cooler for the city’s backhoe.

• Approved spending up to $3,000 for ceiling work and a new heater for the city shop building. City officials said the insurance company wanted the heater replaced in the building and, because of high utility costs, decided to insulate a ceiling in the shop and install a new heater to help make the building more efficient.

• Approved the renewal of the office equipment service agreement with Logan Business Machines.