KAGAWONG—With both tenders submitted for mould abatement and renovations to be made to the Old Mill Heritage Centre Billings Municipal Office having been higher than what had been anticipated, Billings Township council has deferred a decision on which company to choose for two weeks while its engineers discuss the costs involved with both bidders.
“I agree (with Councillor Bryan Barker). We have gone a long time getting to this stage and perhaps there is an opportunity to reduce the (cost) burden to the taxpayers,” said Billings Mayor Ian Anderson at a special council meeting last Friday. “I think in the interest of waiting for another couple of weeks, it would be prudent to defer our decision for two weeks.”
Mayor Anderson noted that both tenders, “are from local businesses and we are familiar with both.”
The township received two tenders (bids) for the mould abatement and new cast in place floor and interior renovations (in the municipal office portion of the Old Mill), and to provide all labour, materials, equipment, permits, etc. as required to execute the scope.
“As a council we have a very important decision to make in relation to repairs to be done to the (Old Mill) municipal office,” stated Mayor Anderson.
One bid was from First General Services (Rob Scott) of Little Current in the amount of $179,850 and the second tender from Rob Seifried Construction (Kagawong) of $189,999.
The two bids, “are reasonably close,” said Councillor Bryan Barker. “And both certainly meet the criteria for mould abatement and the entire project in total.”
Deputy clerk Megan Bonenfant told council that both bids include removal-mould abatement, and does include the proper forms. “I did have the opportunity to have a conversation on the project with our engineers (Tulloch Engineering) after the tenders were reviewed.”
She pointed out both bids came in about $50,000 higher than the engineer had estimated. “And they (Tulloch) have recommended that council defer making a decision to give time to talk to both bidders.” They both provided a list of subcontractors for the project, and Tulloch would like to get more information from them as well.
“That’s good advice,” noted Mayor Anderson.
It was pointed out that two motions were being presented to council, one being to make a decision on which bid they were going to accept and the second to have a decision deferred for two weeks.
“First we talked about the overlap subcontractors in both bids,” said Councillor Barker. He noted one of the differences in the quotes was in the mould abatement, provided by the subcontractors. He agreed council should delay a decision for two weeks to allow the engineers to gain more information.
Councillor Sharon Jackson said, “I looked at both tenders and our (engineer) and there was overlap on the subcontactors (in both bids), and that one was more detailed than the other.” She also agreed that council should defer their decision for two weeks.
Councillor Barker said delaying a decision two weeks would not pose a problem in terms of the time period for the project to be started and completed.
Council passed a resolution to defer the decision to allow the engineer to contact both bidders, and report back to council on January 3 with council to make a final decision at its first meeting in January.
