Revised change order to 8th Street construction.
After sending the 8th Street pavement project back out for bids on August 6, the Great Bend City Council voted 3-2 Monday night to have Venture Corporation handle the job. Venture was among three other bidders for the pavement project on 8th Street between Grant and McKinley.
The original bid request called for bidders to show written proof of being pre-qualified by the Kansas Department of Transportation, as a way of quality assurance. Venture was the only one that provided the proof, but they submitted the only asphalt bid and it was the second lowest. Thinking that concrete was the better route, the Council elected to redo the bid process and strike the KDOT prequalification since it was a City project.
Great Bend’s on-call engineer Josh Golka said Monday night he and city administration reexamined all the bids.
Josh Golka Audio
Vogts-Parga Construction, L&M Contractors, and Suchy Construction all submitted concrete bids, with Suchy coming in with the lowest bid, originally at $462,951. Venture’s asphalt bid originally was quoted at $468,876.
At the August 6th meeting, Golka estimated an asphalt road would last 25-30 years while concrete streets would have a life expectancy of 40-50 years. Golka noted the asphalt project will be thicker to make it equivalent to the concrete.
Josh Golka Audio
After the rebidding process, Venture shaved off more than $42,000 on their bid lowering it to $426,343 and Suchy went down to $451,951. Golka and Great Bend City Administrator Kendal Francis recommended the overall low bid from Venture. The City Council voted in favor of accepting the bid from Venture to handle the project.
Because Suchy, Vogts-Parga, and L&M Contractors did not provide written proof of being KDOT prequalified, their bids should not have even been read the first time. As Golka noted at the August 6th meeting, by the “letter of the law,” Venture should have appeared as the only option. The Council was under the influence that concrete might be a better choicce and Suchy had the low bid at the time so they chose to rebid the project.
Other news from the Great Bend City Council meeting on August 20, 2018…
– The Council voted to approve the 2019 budget prior the meeting.
– Community members with baseball and softball affiliations made encouraging requests for the City to install artificial turf at the ballfields at the Great Bend Sports Complex. The Council asked several questions and were told City Administrator Kendal Francis has a meeting scheduled with USD 428 Superintendent Khris Thexton and the Great Bend Recreation Commission on August 29 to discuss the possibility of turfing the fields.
– Community Coordinator Christina Hayes gave a recap of Party in the Park on August 11, the City’s new website coming August 27, and the installation process of carpet at the Great Bend Events Center
– The Council chose to move the next regular meeting to Tuesday, September 4 to avoid Labor Day.