Franklin County board approves courthouse roof plans and awards $88,500 construction contract

Franklin County supervisors adopted plans and specifications for a county courthouse roof replacement and, following a public hearing, awarded the construction contract to Welter Construction of Elk River, Minnesota, for $88,500.

The board opened a public hearing at 9:30 a.m. to take comments on plans, specifications, the form of contract and the engineer's estimate. No members of the public attended or submitted comments by email. Speaker 6, who presented the bid tab and procurement review, said four contractors submitted bids after attending a mandatory pre-bid walk-through and recommended the apparent low bidder.

"I can recommend Welter Construction in Elk River, Minnesota," Speaker 6 said, noting the company had a short registration issue that was corrected before the board's action. The presenter also warned supervisors the bid spread among contractors was unusually large.

Supervisors voted by roll call to adopt the required resolutions to change the bid schedule, adopt plans and specifications, and to award the contract. Lukensmeyer, McVicker and Van Ness each recorded aye votes on the award.

County staff said the contract award will be followed by a pre-construction meeting with the contractor to establish schedules, site use and staging. Speaker 6 said the contractor plans to move quickly once mobilized and the county will coordinate parking-lot closures and crane access so the job can proceed safely and with minimal disruption.

The board noted the unusually wide differences among bids and emphasized that required walk-throughs and pre-bid attendance are meant to reduce such disparity. No start date was specified at the meeting; staff estimated two to three weeks of lead time after final scheduling and that parts of the parking lot would likely be closed during construction.