Bangor finance committee advances four maintenance contracts including chip-seal work and airport tank painting

Bangor City’s Finance Committee on June 2 reviewed staff recommendations to award four maintenance contracts, ranging from a budgeted sewer maintenance pickup to pavement preservation and specialized airport tank painting.

Committee members in attendance were Councilor Fishchata, Councilor Depp, Councilor Trimble, Councilor Dean, Councilor Fournier, Councilor Leonard and Councilor Mallard. Senior Manager Courtney O'Donnell presented the procurement items and summarized bids and staff recommendations.

Courtney O'Donnell, senior manager, said five bids were received for the budgeted sewer maintenance pickup, with the low bid of $48,039 from Darlings recommended for award. O'Donnell said the vehicle purchase is a budgeted replacement and that the amount is below the threshold requiring City Council approval.

O'Donnell described floor-drain repairs at Central Fire as a safety issue. She said four bids were received for that work, with amounts ranging from $45,000 to $570,000; staff recommended awarding the contract to Heinz Ground Services of Winterport for $45,000. A facilities staff member explained that the problem is rusted metal drains lifting and creating trip hazards; the floors themselves were reported to be in good condition and the scope focuses on replacing or regrading the drain assemblies and removing unneeded drain lengths.

On airport work, O'Donnell said the city’s fuel farm tanks — which she described as holding approximately 3,500,000 gallons — generally are repainted every 10 years and were last painted in June 2011. Because the work is specialized, staff asked the committee to waive the formal RFP process and award the painting contract to the low bidder, West Virginia Paint LLC, for $61,004.70. O'Donnell noted that figure is about $1,400 over the budgeted amount for that line item.

Aaron Hittery, public works director, described the recommended chip-seal pavement preservation as an overlay that seals cracks and places a wearing course over pavement. Hittery said chip seal is less expensive than a shim overlay, can extend pavement life at the low end by about five years and at the high end up to about 10 years, and is part of the city’s effort to stretch the paving budget. Only one bid was received for that work; staff recommended awarding the chip-seal contract to Allstate Construction of Richmond for $112,262. Committee members moved and seconded the chip-seal award; no roll-call vote or tally was recorded in the committee transcript provided.

Staff told the committee the airport painting work and chip-seal contract were scheduled for this summer if the awards proceed. The sewer pickup award was noted as below the City Council approval threshold and therefore will not go to council for further action.

Questions from committee members sought clarification on budget line items (including why two amounts matched in an item) and on contractor selection processes for specialized work; staff said they could provide additional budget detail if requested and that the airport work vendors were called because of the specialized nature of the painting work.

The committee adjourned after the items were discussed.