Aquatic center expansion on hold

Moses Lake council tables bids

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Family Aquatic Center expansion is up in the air due to higher than expected bids for constructing the project.

After reviewing two bids received to construct the project Tuesday night, council voted to table the issue to see if city staff can find the remainder of the money needed somewhere else in the budget.

Council initially re-bid the project after receiving only one bid, more than $600,000 over the city architect's total estimate. They hoped they would receive a better bid.

"We received a higher bid on this (re-bid)," Municipal Services Director Gary Harer said.

In addition to the previous bid, council received one more. The second bid was about $1 million more than the estimate, he said.

"Well this is more expensive than what the city has expected to pay for this project," City Manager Joe Gavinski said.

The total bid estimated by the city architect for the project is more than $2.9 million. A bid from Kilgore Construction, Inc. totals more than $3.6 million and a bid from MRM Construction, Inc. totaled more than $4.2 million, according to city documents.

The city is already committed to the project due to the previous purchase of a $750,000 Flo Rider, not included in the bid, he said.

The Flo Rider is a project enabling people to surf in place.

One councilmember did not feel comfortable putting more money into the project than was expected.

"I'm not willing to spend anymore money for this project as I see it now. The cost is just too much for right now," Councilmember James Liebrecht said. "I'm sure there's some other city that's willing to buy (the Flo Rider) if we have to sell it."

He did not think council would receive a better bid in the future because the bids are already public.

Councilmember Dick Deane said council should go forth with the project because it adds to the community.

"We're plowing our resources back into our community," Deane said. "We're sitting on a fresh breath of air and we need to take it."

Councilmember Richard Pearce said the sooner the project is built, the sooner it becomes beneficial to the city and to citizens.

"I'd like to at least give the staff a chance to take a look at it," Councilmember Bill Ecret said.

Finding the additional money for the project will be difficult, Gavinski said.

There is a possibility to pull about $500,000 from the hotel/motel and transient rental income fund because the expansion is a tourism project, he added.

The expansion will be discussed at the March 27 council meeting starting at 7 p.m. in the council chambers.