Winamac Town Council members looked over bids for their wastewater project during their regular meeting Monday night.
Midwestern Engineers CEO Mark Sullivan reminded members that the wastewater project budget was initially set at $1,250,000. He added that the Town was awarded a $700,000 grant that will be going toward project costs.
This project was originally bid out last year and bids were opened in October. However, after the only submitted bid came in way over budget, officials decided to reject it and rebid the project.
Sullivan appeared before the council with three new bids, explaining that the bidders included the companies Cosby Excavation, Kosing Industrial and Bowen Engineering
His recommendation was to go with Crosby since they submitted the lowest bid at $1,194,000.
As a reminder, Crosby was the only company to submit a bid during the original bidding process. In this round, they were able to bring their cost down about $281,000 from where it was at with their initial base bid.
However, despite their best efforts to bring down costs, the lowest bid was still about $134,000 over the initial budget. Sullivan noted that since this project is being done to comply with a state regulation related to the wastewater treatment plan, they really need to keep on schedule and move forward with the contractor.
He mentioned that his office is doing what they can do adjust project costs to make up for the shortfall, including cutting out $75,000 in engineering fees. He also noted that Clerk-Treasurer Melanie Berger is expected to coordinate with Umbaugh officials about the matter.
Members provided unanimous approval to award the wastewater project contract to Crosby Excavating.
