A lengthy discussion over a company’s credentials to construct a sidewalk on South Avenue from Prairie Street to West Street dominated the Emporia City Commission’s action session Wednesday afternoon.
The bid award ended up being tabled.
Discussion centered on whether to go with staff’s recommendation to award the bid to Emporia Construction, which was the second lowest bid of $162,395, or awarding the bid to the lowest bidder, CTR LLC for $159,755, about a $2,640 difference.
The bid bond received from CTR was completed in another name — not CTR Construction. It later was learned that the business name listed on the bid came from a new partner in the CTR company.
“...Engineering does not feel that, at this time, we can recommend awarding a $150,000 project to a contractor with minimal credentials,” a summary of the bid stated.
“Emporia Construction has completed a lot of projects with the City of Emporia; recently they have completed the sidewalk along Weaver Street in Industrial Park III.”
Ian Mose and Hector Rubio, representatives of CTR, said the company has done sidewalks in the past and has the equipment and manpower to do the job.
At the time of the bid opening, though, the engineering department didn’t have a list of comparable projects, said Keith Beatty, city engineer.
“There was nothing listed that they have done anything of the like,” Beatty said. “(We) were concerned as to whether or not they can do the job or not.”
CTR officials, then, gave the commission more materials about their firm.
Commissioner Jeff Longbine said, in most cases, once bids are submitted, changes or additions are not allowed.
More discussion continued on the bid bond, focusing on whether the bond was included in the company’s bid. The bond was in the bid, but it was not in CTR’s name, the group concluded.
But commissioners decided to table the issue until next week’s study session. Commissioners requested to see all the original bids before they make a decision on the sidewalk construction contract.
Traffic project
In other matters, Beatty recommended rejecting all bids for the Seventh Avenue and Merchant Street traffic signal installation project, and commissioners unanimously concurred. The bids came in well over the engineer’s estimate of $82,037. Both bids received came in greater than $139,000.
Beatty said the engineering department is looking into the plans to see what can be done to bring the project closer to the engineer’s estimate. The traffic signals need to be replaced because they are falling over, Beatty said.
“They are dilapidated signals and they need to be replaced,” he said. “We’re either going to have to tear them out or replace them. They’re in that bad of shape.”
Beatty said vehicle and foot traffic in the area, which is near the Emporia Post Office, makes the signals essential.
Traffic ordinance
Commissioners voted 5-0 to approve technical amendments to the 2007 State of Kansas Traffic Ordinance, including that a defendant’s vehicle in a second conviction of a DUI may be impounded, booted or equipped with an interlock device; the penalty for a seatbelt violation will increase to $30 from $10 on Jan. 1; a seatbelt violation for children under 18 and over 14 now will be a primary violation; all-terrain vehicle and worksite utility vehicles are prohibited from operating on any federal, state or local highway; and by adopting the ordinance will allow for operation of work-utility vehicles for incidental use in construction areas and in the operation or maintenance of public buildings.