Council awards Sumas Avenue improvement contract to low bidder; sanitary water to JBS required by Oct. 1

City staff opened a public hearing on the Sumas Avenue improvement project and reported eight bids received, one non-responsive. Sven Jacob told the council the lowest responsive bid came from McNich Corporation of Des Moines and fell just under the engineer’s estimate; staff said the responsive bids were tightly clustered with about a $700,000 spread among them.

Under the contract schedule, sanitary water must be completed to JBS by Oct. 1 to allow JBS to begin conditioning and testing its systems, a city official said. Intersection and paving work should be substantially complete by December, and final restoration, lighting and remaining roadway work are expected to be finished by July 2027. Staff identified detour plans and temporary site-access options and noted the contractor’s familiarity with local utilities would be helpful.

Council passed a resolution awarding the contract and confirmed funding will come from a RISE grant and a previously authorized bond issue. Staff emphasized the need to refine staging and responsibility for any temporary pavement if the contractor elects to place temporary surfaces to maintain schedule; the contractor was described as likely to accept responsibility for temporary paving if they chose that approach.

The council’s action advances procurement and authorizes staff to finalize contract documents and scheduling with the selected contractor.