Council awards Unity Park basketball court contract to DHC Concrete for $197,750

The Highlands City Council voted 4–1 to authorize negotiation and execution of a contract with DHC Concrete Construction and Restoration to build an outdoor basketball court at Unity Park for $197,750, using the city’s cooperative purchasing agreement with The Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS).

Parks staff said the work includes a 62-by-106-foot playing surface, surfacing and court markings, installation of four basketball goals, and a five-foot sidewalk connecting the court to the parking lot. Staff described the item as part of a larger bond package originally budgeted at $230,000, which included lighting; staff are excluding lighting from this construction phase and said lighting will be addressed in a later phase. "This was part of a larger bond project that we broke down into a smaller project," the presenting parks staff member said, describing the court dimensions and the items included in the contractor’s scope.

The contract price from DHC — $197,750 — covers earthwork, reinforced concrete foundation work, basketball post installation, surfacing, striping and related items. Staff said two other price proposals were received: one higher-priced bid from Craftsman and a lower-priced submission from Dobbs Tennis that the city rejected because it did not meet the engineered plan specifications.

Council discussion focused on engineering and cost. Staff presented an engineer’s recommendation based on a soils report that called for grade beams and a reinforced slab to limit settlement and cracking. Staff and council members differed on the scale of the foundation work and the earthwork estimate (presented in the bid breakdown as roughly $40,000 for grading/earthwork). Council members asked to review the soils report and the engineer’s design; one council member said contractors had been reluctant to underbid or deviate from the engineered plans. Staff said they would provide the soils report to the council on request.

The council debate also touched on procurement approach. Staff described an earlier effort to bundle Unity Park improvements into a single larger project; that solicitation drew no bids. The city then split the work into smaller packages and solicited contractors through cooperative purchasing arrangements (BuyBoard, TIPS). Legal counsel explained that using cooperative purchasing satisfies state competitive procurement rules.

The council approved the resolution to negotiate and execute the contract by a 4–1 vote. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Feaster; the record on the floor showed a 4–1 approval. Staff said lighting remains unfunded in the current phase and estimated that lighting could add roughly $30,000 but cautioned that the figure was uncertain and that recent technological changes (including solar lighting options) affect cost and approach. Staff also warned that construction markets have been volatile and that bundling projects to attract larger contractors had not yielded bids earlier in the process.