City retools Gerry Ivy splash-pad plan after no bids; RFP due Aug. 28

City parks officials said they will seek proposals for a redesigned splash pad at Gerry Ivy Park after an initial July bid received no responses. Jeff Hammond, director of Parks and Recreation, told the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board the city rejected a single, higher-than-expected bid and moved to a proposal approach "that we've done with playgrounds very successfully over the past few years." He said the proposal solicitation is due Aug. 28. Hammond said the new request for proposals focuses the procurement on the splash-pad installation and allows vendors to submit alternate components such as a water wall, memorial elements and lighting. He said the city "put a budget item in there, how much we wanna pay" and will evaluate and rank proposals with the goal of returning to the governing body for project authorization in September. Hammond cautioned the new approach could increase city-controlled costs outside the vendor proposal. "We might have an engineering cost because we'd might wanna have our own representative ... to review what is being provided. We might want to have a, an inspection for concrete," he said, adding the city may need site work, compaction and utility upgrades to meet a bidder's requirements. Board members asked about the project site; Hammond said the splash pad would be placed "at the same location of the former splash pad," where water, sewer and electricity already exist. He warned that a vendor specification requiring a larger sanitary connection could force the city to do a utility improvement: "Let's say someone's proposal requires a 4 inch sanitary. We're only providing a 2 inch. The city ... may need to do a utility improvement." Hammond said staff held a pre-proposal meeting attended by five firms and answered about 40 questions. He said 10 parties have expressed interest so far and that proposals will be evaluated when they are returned. "So far, we've had at least between 5 and, well, we've had 10 people express interest. We had 5 people that have really expressed interest and a desire to be part of the process," Hammond said. Discussion only — no board vote took place on the splash-pad procurement at the advisory-board meeting. Hammond characterized the earlier phase as a design-bid-build procurement that produced one rejected bid and said staff shifted to a proposal-based procurement to encourage more respondents. Hammond said the city is trying to complete work before next summer and that the solicitation and timeline are posted on the city's website. He said staff will return to the governing body in September with a recommended proposal or an authorization request. Ending Project costs and the need for any city-funded utility work will be clarified during proposal evaluations and subsequent governing-body consideration. The advisory board will receive updates as staff evaluates proposals and prepares any request for authorization.