MSFI committee recommends city manager be authorized to award $26.06 million downtown contract to Casella Construction

The Keene Municipal Services, Facilities & Infrastructure Committee on a unanimous 5–0 vote recommended that the city manager be authorized to negotiate, execute and award a $26,058,836 construction contract to Casella Construction Inc. for the downtown infrastructure project.

City Manager (City Manager) told the committee that two bids were opened last Friday and the low bid from Casella totaled $26,058,836. Don Lucier, the city’s public works director, said the city currently has about $24.6 million available across water, sewer and general funds for the project, while the total estimated need including construction administration and other allowances is roughly $27,858,600, leaving the general fund portion short. Lucier recommended bridging the shortfall primarily by reallocating roughly $2.3 million from completed project balances and appropriating $1.2 million from the unallocated fund balance.

Lucier listed specific candidate balances to reallocate, including an approximate $291,000 remainder on Upper Winchester Street and an estimated $350,000 available from Thompson Road, plus underruns from the 2024–25 road-preservation work and funds from the Carpenter Street stormwater project and the stormwater system analysis…