Avon council approves $2.39 million paving contract, $441,100 engineering agreement and several annexations

Avon — The Avon Town Council on April 24 approved a $2,394,611.82 bid to E&B Paving for the town's 2025 Community Crossings Matching Grant (CCMG) paving project and authorized a $441,100 construction engineering contract with United Consulting for the Raceway Road (County Road 100 North) project. The council also approved multiple fiscal plans and annexations, adopted changes to stop-street and traffic-safety designations, and authorized a property transfer to Family Promise.

The paving project award came after Public Works Director Steve Moore told the council the town's engineer estimate for the project was $2,660,000 and that the lowest bid, from E&B Paving, was $2,394,611.82. "Pretty happy about the bids we received for the 2025 CCMG project," Moore said, noting all three bids were close and that E&B has done prior work in Avon. The motion to award the quote passed on roll call with four affirmative votes.

The council then approved a contract with United Consulting for construction engineering services on Raceway Road. Town staff said full-time construction engineering is required because the project includes federal funding (an MPO federal exchange), and the work is billed on time-and-materials. Town Manager Ryan explained that the contract is an estimate of inspector hours and staff on site: "It is incredibly expensive as you'll see, but this is to make sure that we are being good stewards of the taxpayer dollars and that someone's watching the construction and that they're following all the specifications," he said. The council approved the $441,100 contract on a roll-call vote. Staff noted roughly 70% of actual inspection costs will be reimbursable through the funding structure.

The meeting included a cluster of land-use and property actions. The council adopted resolutions and fiscal plans required to annex several parcels into town limits, including the Watson and Kernodle parcels (associated with the Briarwood development), MJ Ventures, and four town-owned properties tied to recent roundabouts and a sports field purchase (100 North and Dan Jones; 150 South and Avon Avenue; 625 East and U.S. 36; and 900 East and 200 North). Town Attorney Dan noted these actions are procedural and important for title and service planning: "This type of resolution is really important for our title insurance — it is really why we do it," he said. Each annexation fiscal plan and the related ordinances were adopted or introduced as required by Indiana statute; public hearings on the annexations drew no speakers.

Other business approved by the council included: - Resolution authorizing the transfer of property to Family Promise (approved by roll call). - Resolution authorizing the use of Indiana's alternative procurement process to solicit leases for space in the new civic center; staff will return with RFP details identifying specific leasable areas. - Resolution approving negotiation of a revised purchase/easement agreement with CSX Transportation related to a railroad easement (the council noted the action pertains to an easement, not purchase of the full parcel). - Final reading and adoption of Ordinance 2025-12 amending stop streets and traffic-safety signals to reflect newly annexed streets and to update speed/stop designations for enforcement.

Councilmembers and staff discussed features of the construction engineering contract, including anticipated part-time utility inspection to manage relocations and an engineering check of plans before bidding. Staff emphasized the town's conservative budgeting approach for time-and-materials contracts and said the full contractual allowance is unlikely to be expended in practice.

The council introduced, but did not adopt, an ordinance establishing a stormwater collections policy proposed by the Avon Stormwater Board; that ordinance will return for further consideration. No members of the public spoke during the open hearings on the annexations.

The council's next regular meeting is scheduled for May 8, with a May 3 county "Talks Away Day" at the Hendricks County Fairgrounds also noted on the calendar.