Norwalk council affirms TK Concrete as responsible bidder, awards Cherry Parkway and Main Street water contracts amid past litigation concerns

The Norwalk City Council voted March 6 to declare TK Concrete a "responsible bidder" for municipal construction work and to award the firm separate contracts for the Cherry Parkway widening project and the Main Street water main replacement.

Council discussion directly addressed a 10-year-old contract dispute on a prior Norwalk project with the same company. Jim (city attorney) and several council members reviewed the city's prior litigation and performance concerns and said those matters informed the discussion before the votes. "We had litigation with 1 contractor over an improvement project, and it was TK concrete on that Wakanda project...it came in extremely late," the city attorney said during the earlier discussion, describing missed deadlines and poor restoration work on that prior job.

Council received written references and recent project examples for TK; contractor representatives attending the meeting said management and staffing have changed and that the company has completed successful projects for other municipalities in recent years. Two TK project managers told council they would provide on-site project management for Norwalk work and said the company had improved hiring and oversight.

Despite the historical dispute, the council voted to find TK a responsible bidder and then approved the two contract awards. The Cherry Parkway widening contract was awarded to TK Concrete for $388,427.00; council later approved the contract and bond for that project. For the Main Street water main replacement project — a larger, more complex water system job — the council awarded TK Concrete a contract for $1,050,520.00 and subsequently approved the contract and bond.

Mayor and council members emphasized that the respondents' past problems informed the debate, but that bondability, responsiveness to reference requests and updated management plans affected the decision. Wayne (public works) noted the city received competitive bids and had budgeted for the projects; he told council the low bids came in under engineering estimates.

Council also approved related contract-administration work with the city's engineering consultant for Cherry Parkway and authorized construction administration services to support inspection and coordination during construction.

The votes were recorded on roll calls. Council expressed a desire to monitor performance closely and said the city retains remedies for nonperformance, including withholding final payments, assessing liquidated damages and taking corrective steps as necessary.

Work on Cherry Parkway and the Main Street water main replacement will proceed with construction phasing intended to limit disruption; staff warned residents to expect construction-related driveway and traffic impacts and said larger lane closures would be scheduled outside the school year when feasible.