Council awards water main, extends CCTV and sidewalk contracts to keep infrastructure work on track

Grosse Pointe Park — City officials told the council on June 8 that competitive bidding and contract extensions will allow the city to continue a multi‑year program of water main replacement, sewer inspection and sidewalk repairs.

Water main award: Council awarded the 2026 water main construction contract to Bitiger Construction for $826,271 plus a 10% contingency. Public works staff said the work will complete a key loop on Beaconsfield, improve overall distribution by connecting to the larger Kirchival main and replace a vulnerable segment running under Patterson Park. The city expects to use directional‑drilling techniques for portions of the work to reduce surface disruption. Staff added that the low bid was about 20% under the engineers’ estimate and that any savings could be used for additional lead service replacements.

Sewer CCTV and cleaning: Council extended the existing agreement with Advanced Underground Inspection (AUI) to continue televising and cleaning city sewer segments at current prices. Staff said AUI has been responsive and willing to hold pricing for another year and that the work includes a dozen-plus heavy cleaning segments. The extension supports an annual televising budget roughly in the $200,000 range and is meant to preserve the city’s ability to assess sewer condition and prioritize future repairs.

Sidewalk program extension: Council extended the sidewalk repair contract with Luigi (contractor names in the packet) and increased the dollars to address additional flagged defects in District 3. Staff said the packet includes a map and field quantities; the majority of the incremental cost will be recovered through the city’s special assessment process to property owners in the affected blocks.

What staff said about impacts: City engineering staff said residents on the immediate replacement blocks should expect construction activity and some short‑term inconvenience, but that many benefits (improved water pressure and turnover) will be realized as the loop increases distribution reliability. For the Patterson Park segment, staff noted that replacing the line that runs below a storm discharge pipe reduces the risk that a failure could undermine the storm infrastructure.

Timeline: Staff anticipated a mid‑August start for the award; CCTV and sidewalk contract extensions were to begin on July 1 after contract execution. Council asked for ongoing crew coordination plans and resident notifications ahead of work.

Quote: “They beat their own numbers. So, we’re about 20% lower than what the estimate was,” public works manager Patrick Dro said of the successful water main bid.