The Knox Board of Works considered bids for the Wastewater Treatment Plant Improvement Project when members met on Wednesday.
Mayor Dennis Estok read the bids into the record, noting that the base bid submitted by Bowen Engineering totaled $1,999,700, Thienenman Construction submitted a base bid of $1,634,000, HRP Construction provided a base bid of $1,941,000 and Crosby Construction had the highest bid of $2,212,045.
There were also some alternate bids that were included but since the base bids provided came in over budget, JPR Senior Staff Engineer Brett Konkrski suggested not including the alternate in the contract amount.
Members cast a unanimous vote to go with Thieneman, the lowest bidder, pending the review and approval of City Attorney Autumn Ferch and officials from the engineering firm Jones, Petrie, and Rafinski (JPR).
Konkrski noted that in the past, JPR has consulted with the low bidder to see if there are any potential costs savings. He noted that since the project is being partially funded with OCRA money, he would want to make sure that it’s permissible before he proceeds with that process.
Wastewater Superintendent Kelly Clemons said if there is any way they can save money, they should look into that but noted that he should run it by OCRA first.
Board of Works members gave him permission to consult with the lowest bidder about cost savings after first checking into whether or not it would be allowed.
Konkrski noted that he definitely doesn’t want to do anything to jeopardize the project funding and said he would run it by Shawn Cain, who works for the city’s grant administrator KIRPC.
