Winamac Town Council members held a bid opening for the Town’s wastewater project when they met in a special session on Tuesday.
Only one bid was received for the project and it was from Crosby Construction. They provided a total base bid of $1,475,000 and listed an alternate amount of $55,000.
Council President Tom Murray noted that the bid is more than what the Town initially estimated. He asked Midwest Engineers CEO Mark Sullivan to provide some insight on the matter. Sullivan agreed that the figure provided by Crosby is over budget and noted that OCRA, the funding agency for this project, does have some provisions that would allow them to rebid.
He explained, “You have to bid it the first time within six months of the bid award and we’ve done that in October.” Sullivan continued, “If, for whatever reason, the council decides that they want to rebid they allow two more months to receive that bid and to get the project under contract so that would give us until the end of December.”
Sullivan recommended taking the bid under advisement and said he would gather some additional information from Crosby Construction representatives.
He said he will present a recommendation letter at the council’s next meeting on Monday, November 12th. At that point, the council members can make an official decision on how to proceed.
He added that he will be coordinating with Clerk-Treasurer Melanie Berger as well as Town Manager Brad Zellers ahead of time so they can relay any relevant information to council members prior to November’s meeting.
