The City Council met in regular session on September 19, 2011 at 7:30 P.M. in the Council Chambers of City Hall.
Mayor Walker presided:
Councilmembers present:
Del Houger
Mike Peterson
Brian Lorentz
Rob Bentley
Georgia DeHaas
Wes Lester
City employees present were Public Works Director Gortsema, Chief Quantz, Attorney Green and Clerk Kennedy.
MINUTES: The meeting was called to order and the minutes of the September 6th meeting were approved as presented by Councilman Houger, second by Councilman Peterson. Motion carried by a unanimous vote of the Council present.
VISITORS: Brad Frei, 212 South Florence Street asked for reimbursement of $825.73 in plumbing charges for the sewer line problems he experienced. It was clarified that $825.73 is the total amount owed to Williams Plumbing. On motion by Councilman Lorentz, second by Councilman Houger to take responsibility for the bills. Motion carried by a unanimous vote of the Council present.
BILLS: The bills in the amount of $470,479.92 were approved and ordered paid out of their respective funds, on motion by Councilman Lester, second by Councilman Peterson. Motion carried by a unanimous vote of the Council present.
SICK LEAVE BANK: Cheryl Randi requested 131.75 additional hours from the sick leave bank. Per Clerk Kennedy, she determined how many hours were remaining to get her to October 7th when her FMLA leave runs out. On motion by Councilman Lester, second by Councilman Houger to allow Cheryl Randi to use 131.75 additional hours from the sick leave bank. Motion carried by a unanimous vote of the Council present.
WWTP PROJECT DISCUSSION: The bid opening was on September 14th. There were 6 bidders with the low bid Contractors Northwest at $5,266,400 and the high bed COP at $6,532,000. The engineer estimate was $4.1 million with contingency which brought it up to $4.4 million. The bids were about $1 million off. Since the bid opening, the low bidder withdrew their bid from the table. This leaves the next bid at $5.9 million. At this time the City doesn’t have the funds to finance the 2nd lowest bid. Public Works Director Gortsema spoke with Cory Baune to find out what went wrong. The electrical bids came in at $1.5 and $1.3 million and the J-U-B estimate was $700,000-$800,000. Everything else came in higher than estimated. Cory is leaning toward a recommendation to reject the bids.
J-U-B got a letter from Contractors Northwest saying they would like to withdraw their bid based upon an error in the bid. If the City rejects all bids then all the bidders can re-bid the new project. If the City accepts and allows Contractors Northwest to pull their bid then they cannot submit a new bid for the revised project. The City has 45 days to make a decision on the bids.
Councilman Lorentz felt J-U-B dropped the ball and that Cory should come up and explain to the Council. Gortsema stated the DEQ loan paperwork was filled out for the coming cycle, but the City won’t know until the spring when the short list is published. The Corp. of Engineers is broke. If the City looks at rebidding the project, it would not happen until January due to the time it will take to redesign the project. The City cannot meet the July 1st deadline at this time. Gortsema recommended waiting until the October 3rd meeting to make a decision.
The meeting adjourned at 8:05 P.M.
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Bruce Walker – Mayor
ATTEST:
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Tonya Kennedy – Clerk
