Stokesdale council reviews five bids for soccer-field lights; seeks more cost details, no award

Stokesdale — The Stokesdale Town Council on Oct. 2 reviewed five proposals to add lights to the town soccer fields and heard from the low bidder, Ronald Overby of Reynolda Electric Company, but took no final contract action.

Councilmember Robbie Foy told the council the town received roughly $725,000 in federal funds (about half already spent on other park improvements) and a $175,000 state grant for the lighting project, and that five vendors submitted bids after the town’s engineering plan package. The raw bid totals Foy read aloud were: Proposal A $429,943; B $419,943; C $352,543; D $322,378; and E $302,471. Foy said Overby later provided alternate options labeled E1–E4 that replace wooden poles with steel and change lighting systems.

The low-bidder, Ronald Overby, described his company’s experience with utility and sports-lighting work and explained why wooden poles carry extra short‑ and long‑term costs. “Wooden poles, they’re wood,” Overby said, adding that pressure-treated poles shrink as they dry and can loosen bolts, which is why he put a $15,000 allowance in his wooden‑pole bid to account for likely re‑reaming and maintenance. He urged steel poles for greater wind and storm resilience.

Council members pressed staff and Overby on options, warranties and lifecycle costs. Overby said Musco’s premanufactured systems include a 25‑year warranty that—depending on the manufacturer—can cover structural elements, drivers and LED components and also provide remote diagnostics; he contrasted that with shorter warranties he attributed to other brands. “Musco has a pretty good warranty,” Overby said, describing how Musco’s networked system can be diagnosed remotely and that some manufacturers require an outage threshold (about 10% of fixtures) before dispatching service.

Foy outlined the alternate pricing: swapping the wooden poles for steel on the low bid produced an apples‑to‑apples comparison of about $311,107 for Reynolda Electric’s steel‑pole proposal (E1), which Foy said remained roughly $11,000 lower than the next vendor’s steel‑pole bid. Council members also reviewed two types of product approaches: all‑in‑one manufactured systems (Musco, GeoSports) and a stick‑built approach in which poles and fixtures are procured/installed separately; warranty coverage and remote‑control features varied by option.

Electrical service and install logistics were another major topic. Staff reported contact with a Duke Energy engineer who described the process and provided a preliminary range for underground boring of “$10,000 and up.” Council and contractors discussed single‑phase versus three‑phase service, conduit size, pad‑mount transformer options and whether to run overhead or underground lines; Overby said the choice affects trenching, conduit sizes and total cost. The council was told the work to put poles “in the air” typically can be done in about a week after deliveries, while manufacturing lead times depend on vendor workload and are generally not expected to exceed eight weeks.

On available funds, staff reported roughly $466,580 remaining when combining available ARPA money and the state grant allocation for the project; council asked staff to confirm that figure from the most recent grant‑management table. Members also asked Overby to provide references and nearby sites where councilors could inspect Musco and GeoSports installations (councilors were directed to Northwest Guilford and Grimsley schools and a High Point University example). Overby agreed to email reference locations and warranty documents.

No formal award or vote to select a vendor was taken at the meeting. Council members said they wanted staff to return with: verified cost estimates from Duke Energy for the service upgrade, written warranty documents from proposed manufacturers, contractor references and final reconciled budget numbers before the council makes a procurement decision. The council opened the floor for public comment but no substantive public remarks were recorded before members moved to adjourn.

What’s next: staff will collect contractor references and warranty documents, follow up with Duke Energy on three‑phase/underground costs, confirm the exact funding available, and bring those items back to council for consideration before awarding a contract.