Staff advises council to award water project and use city crews for bulk asphalt work

Staff member outlined a revised recommendation for the city’s waterworks bids, urging the council to award the immediate project while relying on city crews to perform the bulk of asphalt work to reduce costs.

The staff presentation said utility supervisors met with project managers and concluded the downtown stretches—where there are numerous service connections—could be phased so city crews replace service connections one by one as time permits. For the less complex sections north of Route 66 toward Ridgestop, staff said the work is “relatively easy digging” with few service connections and could be completed outside the roadway, making it suitable for in-house crews. “The bulk of the asphalt would then be done by city crews instead of having this contract,” the staff member said.

The staff recommendation would allow the council to proceed with the current bid packages at the unit prices the town received, while preserving a plan B to reassign or negotiate portions of work back to contractors if needed. A council member noted the typical sequence should begin by awarding this project first and then considering other water-capital projects.

The discussion also touched on procurement logistics, including the possibility of negotiating with bidders or reassigning work to city crews if contractor help becomes necessary. No formal vote on the bid award for this item was recorded in the transcript excerpt provided.

Next steps: staff said they will proceed with preparations to award the immediate water project and will bring specifics back to the council when they have final pricing and scheduling information.