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 account. He said those transfers, together with the $1.2 million draw, would leave about $160,000 in the general-fund contingency and an estimated $250,000 total cushion across affected funds to cover unexpected change orders.

Brian Roof, the city engineer, described the main line-item differences between Casella’s and Albanese’s bids. Roof said Casella’s sidewalk pricing fell by about $1,000,000 compared with the other bidder, and Casella lowered unit prices for concrete structures and some pipe items; taken together, Roof said those changes accounted for roughly the $2 million difference between the two bids. "That was actually a cost savings we didn't anticipate, but we still realized as part of the bid result," Roof said.

Committee members asked how the project would start and how the city would handle overruns beyond the $160,000 contingency. Roof and Don Lucier said contractor paperwork typically requires several weeks and that Casella had indicated it could take about two months from notice of award to full work, with the possibility of an earlier soft start and test pits; Lucier estimated mid-to-late July as a likely start window. Lucier said additional unexpected costs would be handled from fund-specific reserves (for example, water or sewer fund balances), infrastructure capital reserves, or, if necessary, additional debt depending on the scale of the shortfall.

Members also pressed whether replacing only pipes would be a lower-impact alternative. Lucier explained that trenching for separate water, sewer and drainage repairs would require multiple wide trenches and disturb laterals and sidewalks, producing a patchwork of repairs that would be unattractive to downtown stakeholders. "You will not be happy with the results," Lucier said, arguing the full reconstruction approach better addresses sidewalks, laterals and other utilities together.

The committee approved a motion, moved by Chair (Chair) and seconded by the Vice Chair (Vice Chair), that recommended the city manager be authorized to do "all things necessary to negotiate and execute a contract for the construction of the downtown infrastructure project to Casella Construction Inc. in the amount of $26,058,836," and to include contract language allowing the city to amend the scope of work based on the City Council's final FY27 budget approval. City Manager said the committee’s authorization would allow the city to begin award paperwork while the City Council considers two resolutions next week (one to appropriate funds from the unallocated balance and one to move funds from completed projects), with those resolutions expected to be referred to FOP and then returned to the council for final action.

An attendee identified as Mayor (Mayor) asked for and received clarification that the recommended action would not change the tax rate in the submitted budget; City Manager confirmed the resolutions would not further affect the tax rate. The committee voted 5–0 to recommend authorization; the motion passed unanimously.

The city engineer and public works director said the detailed bid tabulation has been posted to the city purchasing portal and copies can be provided to committee members. Lucier also noted that a project ombudsman, George Downing, has been coordinating outreach with downtown businesses and that informational binders will be distributed when plans are finalized. The committee asked staff to prepare a concise timeline and a short presentation of prior votes and business outreach for the next council meeting.

Next steps: staff will prepare the resolutions for the City Council meeting next week and the city manager will proceed with award paperwork pending Council action on the appropriations and transfers.