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Willow Field project bid comes in under budget; council defers playground alternate
Summary
Council accepted grant insertions and recommended awarding a bid for the Willow Field Improvements project that came in about $138,000 under budget; the council decided not to award playground and bleacher alternates now to preserve contingency funds.
The Pompton Lakes Borough Council moved forward on the Willow Field Improvements project after staff recommended inserting grant revenue into the 2025 budget and awarding a responsive bid that left roughly $138,000 in contingency.
Administrator/engineer Michael Carrelli summarized three related budget resolutions that appropriate grant funds so the borough can award the bid and proceed with construction. “We do have a bid award that is both responsible and responsive and under budget…what you'll see is that we're under budget by 138,000,” he said, citing the spreadsheet included in the meeting packet.
Council members questioned alternates in the bid package. Administrator Carrelli said the playground equipment and bleachers were bid as alternates and recommended deferring their award to preserve funds for possible change orders and to allow the borough to seek grants or nonprofit partners later. “We are recommending to not award that alternate bid right now,” he said.
The resolutions that appropriate state open‑space and other grant dollars (resolutions listed as 25278–25280 in the agenda) set up funding to allow the borough to award the Willow Field contract and proceed. The council voted on the group of consent agenda resolutions that included the budget insertions and later moved to award the bid (agenda item 25281).
Council also discussed tree‑planting and contractor obligations for short‑term watering to ensure young plantings survive; staff said they would include maintenance provisions in contracts where appropriate. The council did not award playground alternates and will revisit options for funding those features when the project closes out.
