Le Mars council rejects bids for downtown traffic signal modernization, plans rebid

The Le Mars City Council voted to reject all bids for the downtown traffic signal modernization project and instructed staff to rebid the work with revised specifications and a later completion date.

City staff recommended rejecting the bids after receiving only a single responsive bid and identified several changes to the bid package intended to increase competition, including converting some lump-sum items to unit-price items, shortening the maintenance bond for concrete from four years to two years, and providing clearer concrete specifications. "The recommendation is gonna be to reject and and rebid," said Jason, a city staff member, adding that the revised schedule would move project completion to “prior to Thanksgiving of next year.”

The move to rebid came after staff and councilors discussed contractor availability, inflation and material lead times. Council members expressed concern that delaying the project could increase costs because materials and labor prices have generally risen. One councilor noted that some specialized contractors are few and located far from the area, which may limit the pool of bidders.

Staff said the engineer advised breaking out several items that had been included as lump sums (notably work associated with poles and traffic signal hardware) into unit-price pay items to give bidders clearer pricing guidance. Staff also proposed reducing the maintenance bond period for concrete from four years to two years and producing detailed concrete sheets so bidders can better understand the scope of concrete work.

Councilors discussed whether the city could purchase some materials in advance to hedge against inflation. Jason said he would check what items the city could order and pay for early and whether that would produce actual savings, but he cautioned that ordering ahead could risk buying components that might not match final shop drawings. Staff noted the contractor/manufacturer/engineer review process for pole specifications would still need to be completed before ordering.

A motion to reject all bids for the downtown traffic signal modernization project was made and seconded; the council then voted in favor and the motion carried. The formal action directs staff to prepare a rebid with the recommended specification changes and a revised completion window. The council did not record individual roll-call votes by name in the transcript.

Looking ahead, staff told the council they expect to rebid in the coming months and to set a completion window after ice cream days but before Thanksgiving in 2026. The engineer will prepare more detailed concrete specification sheets as part of the rebid package; staff will also explore whether purchasing certain materials in advance is feasible and cost-effective.

The council moved to the next agenda item after the vote.