Sidewalk bid too high
By Suzanne Werre, BHG News Service
There will be no new sidewalks in Underwood this fall. The commissioners in attendance at last week’s Underwood City Commission meeting turned down the lowest bid for the proposed sidewalk project, even though Dave Thompson of Toman Engineering, had been assured by low bidder Ti-Zack Concrete that the company could do the project starting Oct. 1 and could be done in about five days. The bid was still nearly $100,000 above and beyond the $196,000 grant funds the city has been given for the Safe Routes to School project. Thompson told the commissioners in attendance that they could still negotiate the price, but that they would have to first approve the bid as submitted ($295,432) and then renegotiate, which met with skepticism from the commissioners. “What kind of guarantee do we have that they will renegotiate it,” asked commissioner Jay Snyder. “We don’t,” said Thompson. “I won’t sign it,” said Olson. Commissioners Snyder and Roger Britton quickly echoed his reply. The fact that the bid was $100,000 over what the grant funds will cover, plus the start date was past what the commissioners had set as the Sept. 15 deadline, prompted the commissioners in attendance to decline the bid. Commissioners Jim Bailey and Steve Cottingham were not in attendance.
