Board awards Buffalo Hills Lions Park parking-lot bid to Pratt Excavating for $38,985

The Brainerd City Parks Board voted to award the Buffalo Hills Lions Park parking-lot contract to Pratt Excavating in the amount of $38,985, after staff presented bid specifications and members discussed mobilization costs and site considerations.

Staff said bid prices varied in part because the two higher bids were from firms outside the Brainerd Lakes area and would have greater mobilization costs. The city engineer and staff confirmed that the bid documents included a produced set of drawings and quantities so comparisons were apples-to-apples.

Board members asked whether a single entrance and exit would be adequate and raised concerns about people continuing to drive across existing grass areas. Staff described plans to reinstall curbing, place barricades to discourage driving on former drive areas, reseed or sod disturbed turf and rope off seeded areas until established. Members and staff also discussed whether contractor-excavated material could be left on-site rather than trucked away so the city could create berms called for in the park master plan; staff suggested this could be part of negotiation or a change order with the winning contractor.

A motion to award the contract to Pratt (Pratt Excavating / Affordable Excavating in the staff presentation) at $38,985 carried by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript. The board asked staff to pursue options to retain on-site material for berm construction where feasible and to coordinate installation and site restoration with the parks crew.

The city will proceed with contract administration and scheduling with Pratt Excavating and follow up with any necessary change orders if berm construction is to be integrated into the contract.