Othello street project delayed

OTHELLO - Othello delayed a paving project on Scootney Street after bids came in roughly $200,000 above the engineer's estimate.

The council rejected the bids during Monday's meeting, with the hope of seeing lower prices next year.

The reasons for the delay are disputed, with Public Works Director Terry Clements saying the Transportation Improvement Board promised more money, and the engineering firm delayed getting bids ready.

Stevan Gorcester, the board's executive director, said he didn't know why the city delayed requesting bids until August.

"We wouldn't have anything to do with it," he said. "We are very quick with approval. We would have given the project approval in the fall."

The project was originally scheduled to add asphalt on Scootney Street to Seventh Avenue, and was funded with a state Transportation Improvement Board grant, Public Works Director Terry Clements said. The board initially promised enough money to complete the project, but only gave the city $199,464.

The loss of funding led Clements to shorten the project to include Scootney Street to Fourth Avenue. He wanted Gray and Osborne to prepare the project for bids, so it could start when school ended.

Gorcester disagreed saying the amount of money the board issued was correct.

The board's website lists the project going from First Avenue to Shady Lane Drive.

Clements said the change led to a request to see how much it would cost to complete the entire project. When engineers discovered it would cost about $84,000 more than the board allotted, the agency stated it wouldn't fund the second portion.

The council street committee decided to include the second portion of the project, adding two other parts to the project before the city requested bids, Clements said. The first would replace two sections of 12-inch storm water pipe with 15-inch pipe. The change is expected to fix some flooding along the street.

The changes also included adding water and storm water pipes to Kiwanis Park for a planned bathroom, Clements said.

Clements, Gorcester and Gray and Osborne Principal Larry Julius all agreed the delays in requesting bids led to the high amounts on the bids.

Two companies bid for the project, Central Washington Asphalt of Moses Lake, and Granite Northwest of Watsonville, Calif. The bids were $859,286 and $870,608 with Central Washington Asphalt having the low bid, according to city records. The engineer's estimate for the project was $641,830.

"We talked to both contractors as far as why there was such a discrepancy. Basically, Granite Northwest indicated their double booked until the end of the year. They literally have twice as many jobs as they can perform," he said. "Central Washington said they're pretty much in the same boat. They have enough work to keep them busy without having to go out for additional bids."

When engineers spoke with some of the contractors they expected to bid on the project, they companies responded they were concerned with the amount of work involved in the project and the short amount of time to finish the project.

"We've seen this before on projects that get a late start," he said. "A contractor will put a number together and if they receive the project, it's pure profit. If not, they have other work to get done."

Julius and Clements recommended rejecting the present round of bids and requesting bids on the project again next year.

The delay allows the contractor to start earlier next year, with the paving of Scootney Street happening when school is not in session, Julius said.

"We might also put the project off. I was doing a little brainstorming with Terry earlier. (The city could) do a utility contract and do a paving contract, so that paving contractors wouldn't have to worry about hiring a utility contractor and then the city pay for the mark up," he said.

Councilmember Ken Caylor agreed with delaying bids, calling the prices "way out of whack." He pointed out the costs for individual items are roughly three times higher than the engineer's estimate.

"Generally, the engineers are pretty close, and when they're three times higher than what your bid is or what your estimate is, that's ridiculous," he said.

The delay won't affect the grant, Julius said.

"In fact, they indicated that they typically would not cover an overage like this, and actually recommended that the city wait until next year," he said. "Those are normally a two-year program."

Councilmember Ken Johnson said the city should request bids during the winter. He was disappointed the project didn't happen this year.

"This should have been done a lot earlier," he said.

Mayor Tim Wilson was disappointed as well, pointing out he wanted the project ready earlier, and he didn't want the project to run into the winter like the Main Street repaving project.