Livingston council authorizes mayor to award courthouse plaza contract pending T‑DOT approval and local match

The Livingston City Council voted to authorize the mayor to award the courthouse plaza construction contract to Midstate Construction, contingent on final approval from the Tennessee Department of Transportation and the council's approval of the local match.

Ray Evans, representing the Main Street Historic District, told the council that bids received on April 16 were ‘‘substantially higher’’ than the engineering estimate prepared two to three years earlier and said the city, the mayor and engineers reviewed the low bid with the contractor and agreed it was ‘‘fair and responsive.’’ Evans said T‑DOT indicated additional Transportation Alternatives Program funds were available and had agreed to substantially increase the city’s grant to cover the shortfall. He asked the council to pass a resolution authorizing the mayor to award the contract subject to T‑DOT approval and to approve a local match figure identified in the packet.

The council discussed the local match and sources for it; staff noted roughly $115,700 is available in the downtown revitalization budget and the county budget committee agreed to cover about half of the local match. Councilors moved and approved the resolution by roll call, with recorded ‘‘yes’’ votes from Aldermen Elder, Langford, Linder, Proctor, Rubal and Mayor Dale.

Context: Evans said the low bid was substantially above the earlier estimate; the council was not provided a clean, single figure for the original engineer estimate in this meeting packet, but the mayor and staff said the project would likely begin in June and run about six months. The resolution authorizes the mayor to sign contracts once T‑DOT signs off and confirms the revised grant amount and the local-match funding plan.

The council passed the measure; staff will submit the complete bid package to T‑DOT for final approval and return to the council if further council action is required.