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Selma rejects lone bid for downtown string-lights; council directs value-engineering and rebid
Summary
After a single contractor bid $503,000 for High Street string-lighting—well above the city engineer's $184,800 estimate—council rejected the bid and directed staff to redesign the project to reduce cost and rebid, favoring sidewalk-mounted lights instead of long cross-street spans.
The Selma City Council on July 1 rejected a lone bid for a downtown High Street string-lighting project and directed staff to value-engineer the design and rebid.
Only one contractor submitted a base bid of $503,000; staff said the city engineer—s opinion-of-cost for the project had been $184,800. Council members and staff discussed why long cross-street spans raise costs: longer spans increase tensile loads on poles, requiring larger engineered poles and foundations. Council directed staff to re-design the project with shorter spans along sidewalks and to remove certain items (for example, tree stumps) from the public bid so the job becomes more attractive to bidders.
Public comment emphasized urgency and visual examples from other towns; council members and staff agreed to move quickly on reconfiguration and to return with revised plans and an updated engineer—s estimate before issuing a new public bid.
