Pepper Pike council awards South Woodland pedestrian-trail contract with $25,000 contingency

Pepper Pike, Ohio — The Pepper Pike City Council on June 24 approved awarding the South Woodland pedestrian-trail improvements to DL Smith Concrete and authorized a contingency to cover limited additional concrete repairs.

City Engineer Don Sheehy said nine contractors submitted bids for the project and that the apparent low bid was $549,040. “Their number was actually $549,040. I’m recommending that we add another $25,000 to their contract because we did have them give us a price for concrete point repairs,” Sheehy said, adding the contingency would be used only as needed to address issues such as heat-related slab failures.

The council’s action awards the base contract to DL Smith Concrete and allows staff to use up to an additional $25,000 for point repairs and related contingency items without returning to council for a separate award. Sheehy told the council the point-repair line items were included in the bid package so all bidders priced the work, and that DL Smith’s unit prices for some repairs were substantially lower than other bidders'.

Council members asked how many concrete streets in the city might need point repairs; Sheehy said the city has roughly 35–40 concrete streets and that a handful of streets have identified slab problems. Council discussion noted the contingency is intended to give staff flexibility to address isolated problems while crews are on site rather than immediately soliciting separate prices.

The motion to approve the contract and the contingency passed on roll call.

The award follows the city’s practice of adding contingency allowances for on-site point repairs when work is underway; council members said they preferred keeping the amount modest and accounting for these repairs separately in project reporting so sidewalk cost figures remain comparable across projects.