Decorah council, staff and fundraisers restart athletic-complex bid with smaller base, alternates

Decorah City Council members on Thursday directed city staff and the park board to rebid the proposed athletic complex with a smaller base package and a menu of alternates, a move intended to make the project awardable while giving local fundraisers concrete targets for additional amenities.

Council and staff said the change is intended to balance fiscal responsibility with community priorities after the city rejected the original lump-sum bid as too high. The base package under discussion would replace facilities the community is losing and be small enough to award without delaying construction; alternates would let the city add items such as extra pickleball courts, additional ball diamonds, drain tile and paved parking if funds or private donations become available.

City Manager Travis (City Manager) told the council the original bid used a lump-sum format that made it hard to separate costly elements. He said staff has directed the consulting engineer to convert the package to unit pricing and to list likely add-ons as alternates so the city can identify exactly which line items drove the high price in the first bid. “Unit pricing will help us better understand the costs associated with the future bid and possibly remove components easier if funding is still short,” Travis said.

Public commenters asked the council to aim higher than the most minimal base. Harlan Satram, speaking on behalf of Dalen Development, urged the city to “go to 8 pickleball courts” and to aim for multiple baseball diamonds. Brian Nickel, a college baseball coach who spoke as a resident, said children “need a place to play baseball and softball” and encouraged the council to allow the fundraising committee to test whether adding a third diamond would be feasible.

Councilmembers debated where to set the base. Several members proposed a “replace what we’re losing” approach: two ball diamonds and six pickleball courts to mirror facilities that will be removed elsewhere in town, with alternates for an additional four pickleball courts, a third diamond, sod or drain tile, fencing, dugout quality, and paving. Others urged keeping the base intentionally small — one councilmember suggested a single diamond — so the project remains awardable without rebidding if fundraising falls short.

Staff noted constraints under Iowa Code chapter 26 (public construction bidding): the city must issue a single-prime bid package and cannot separately solicit private contractors for parts of the city-funded work. Travis and the city engineer clarified that privately raised funds could pay for elements outside the city contract (for example, a private donor or group contracting directly for batting cages or an extra set of pickleball courts), but that mixing private earmarks with the public bid can create administrative and legal complications.

Several councilmembers and staff emphasized timing: the window between bid opening and award is narrow. Alternates must be funded or committed at award if the council intends to include them in the city contract. That leaves some private donors needing to commit funds quickly if their preferred alternates are to be awarded with the base project.

Councilmembers asked staff to produce a rebid with: a limited base (two diamonds and six pickleball courts was a frequent suggestion), unit pricing for key items, and a set of alternates (extra pickleball courts, additional diamonds, sod/tiling, fencing, parking paving, lighting, enclosures and concession options). Staff said the plan is to have new documents ready to set a public hearing at the July 7 council meeting.

The discussion included repeated reminders that the design and bid documents will emphasize the minimum base so the city can proceed if fundraising does not reach alternate thresholds, while preserving the ability to add alternates if donors and grants materialize. The council and staff also encouraged the fundraising committee to coordinate early with staff so private contributions are structured in a way that can be implemented without jeopardizing the public contract.

The council gave staff direction only; no formal ordinance or budget action was taken at the meeting. The next steps are revised bid documents, a public hearing and a future award decision once bids and fundraising commitments are available.