 However, he also delivered a stunning blow when he told the council
that the projected costs of the project far exceed the original
estimate.In the city's capital improvement plan, the cost of the
project was estimated to be $1 million. Tuesday night Forgy said the
cost estimate now sits at $1.5 million.
The original plan for Pulaski Street includes reconstruction of
the five blocks between Hamilton Street and Ladue Street.
The work would include reclaiming of the original bricks that are
now hidden under layers of asphalt. The purpose of pulling up all
that brick is so that it may be used later to refurbish existing
brick streets in the city.
In addition, the project calls for redoing the sewer lines in
that five-block area. This was discussed as part of the five-year
plan. Lincoln's sewage system in many areas still uses lines laid in
the 1800s. It is also what is classified as a combined sewer, which
means raw sewage and stormwater runoff travel in the same pipes to
the waste treatment plant, something that is highly frowned upon by
the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency today.
In discussing the long-term plans for the city, Forgy had
mentioned that as streets are repaired and improved, the city would
be well advised to go ahead and redo the sewers at the same time.
Eventually, the EPA is going to require that raw sewage and
stormwater travel to the waste treatment plant in separate lines.
Forgy said that doing the work when streets are being repaired would
save the city having to tear out good roads later for the sake of
sewer replacement.
Tuesday night, Forgy said much of the increase in costs was due
to the sewer work in the project.
He also told the council that the figures he is giving them now
are based on a state average of what the project should cost, and
there are no guarantees that the bids will come in at that price. He
said he's seen times when bids would come in much lower than the
estimate, but again he couldn't promise that either.
During discussion, Melody Anderson asked what effect this big
cost change would have on other projects slated to be completed this
year.
City administrator Sue McLaughlin said that at the moment there
is not an answer to that question. She said there had been some
brainstorming on how to deal with this, but at the moment she and
the city engineer do not have a definite plan.
Forgy did mention that one option they had discussed was to
reduce the project from five blocks to four. He said that if the
city chose to do that, the block in front of the Lincoln IGA is the
one in the best condition at the moment, so it could perhaps be
eliminated from the project.
Anderson asked if that was a decision the council could make
after the bids were received, and Forgy said it was.
[to top of second column] |
Forgy then asked if he could go ahead and advertise for bidders
on the project. While the council in the past has voted in order to
approve going out for bids, it is not actually required. It was
agreed that if the general consensus of the council was to go
forward, Forgy could get the ad for bidders placed right away. The
council did consent.
Forgy also said that letters need to be sent out to property
owners along the street, explaining what would be happening and
inviting anyone with concerns to contact the city engineer. He said
he could send those letters out now while the city awaits the bids.
Jeff Hoinacki asked how long it would take to get the bids back
and was told it would be a two-week process. Ads will be placed
immediately, with bid packets due back in two weeks, which would be
the first full week in August. Bids could be announced at the Aug.
13 committee of the whole workshop and voted on at the Aug. 19
voting session.
In other street concerns, Forgy said he had contacted the low
bidder of the Oglesby bridge demolition project and inquired why the
bid had come in significantly higher than anticipated. The
contractor had responded with two reasons. He said first the city
was not providing a dump site for the materials to be hauled away.
The contractor will have to haul the debris away at his expense.
Secondly, he told Forgy that he had based his labor costs on the
prevailing wage laws, and he felt that what he was bidding was a
fair price.
Forgy said he had also contacted a few contractors who did not
bid on the project and asked them why. He was told that the project
was too small.
Forgy said he had talked to the council previously about
combining the Oglesby project with something else, such as the
Pulaski Street project, but now he was on the fence, not sure it
would make that much difference in the price.
Forgy was asked if the Oglesby project could be added to the
Pulaski bid packet as an "alternate," and he said it could.
McLaughlin said she felt the city should do that as she felt it
would be worth finding out if they could save some money.
Forgy was then asked if adding Oglesby to the bid specifications
would delay the process. Forgy said it would take a couple of extra
days to amend the bid packets, but he didn't believe it would delay
the process as a whole.
In the end it was decided that the bid specifications for the
Pulaski Street project will include Oglesby as an alternate. The
council will then decide if they want to keep the two projects
separate or combine them, based on the cost of the bids.
[By NILA SMITH] |
