LAKEPORT >> The lowest bid for Phase II of the Lakeport Downtown Improvement Project came in about $400,000 more than the city’s estimate, forcing city staff to seek nearly $200,000 in cuts. They will seek these at the Lakeport City Council regular meeting today.
According to staff reports, the city received two bids: one from Granite Construction for a little less than $3 million and another from Argonaut Construction for approximately $4.74 million. The former will be recommended for award by Community Development Director Kevin Ingram, but the contract is 15 percent more than the in-house estimate of about $2.6 million.
“It’s a complicated project; you’ve so many interrelated things going on even though it’s only three blocks.” Ingram said when asked about the discrepancy. “It’s a very difficult proposal.”
The project, he expounded, covers utility infrastructure (i.e. gas, water and electricity) along with other aspects, thus making it harder to make an estimate.
In order for the project to fall within acceptable funding limits, he and city engineer Paul Curren identified certain items in it to delete. If the change orders are approved, they would decrease the contract’s total by $200,000 to about $140,000 less than the allotted maximum of $2.94 million.
So far, 11 work items are recommended for deletion including: planting street trees, installing some street lights, furniture and electrical projects at the planned tree wells. These can either be done later — and cheaper — by the city or other contractors, the report said
For instance, the tree installation was bid at $3,150 per tree, more than five times the cost of one. The report calculated that this cut would save nearly $112,000.
Support Infrastructure for other plans, such as electric mechanisms to light up the trees, will still be built so the city doesn’t have to rip up the sidewalk after the project’s completion.
And this may not be the end of cuts.
According to Ingram, Curren has identified approximately $185,000 more in savings. However, those will need to be brought before the council at a later time.
“Additional areas of savings are being analyzed, but will take more time to reach a final answer than is available prior to bid award,” the report added.
Those items weren’t specifically identified. City Manager Margaret Silveira said staff was preparing a list for the council and possibly find some other funding sources.
“We were, of course, disappointed. We were hoping not to cut any items from the project,” she said. “We just have to make adjustments to make it work.”
If awarded the bid, Granite Construction plans to start preliminary construction by the night of May 15 and demolition after Memorial Day. Senior Estimator Terry Richards said the goal is to get the bulk of the work done by Labor Day.
“We’re looking forward to doing to the job,” Richards said.
Other aspects of this item include a change in the electrical subcontractor of the company and the authorization of Silveira to sign project change orders under $15,000.
The meeting begins at 6 p.m.
