Michigantown officials set bid schedule after Rural Development releases wastewater project to bid

Michigantown council members moved forward on steps to solicit bids for a $750,000 wastewater treatment plant project after receiving a release-to-bid authorization from Rural Development, the meeting’s presiding member said.

The authorization follows the town’s request to the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs to extend the deadline for bids. The council noted a revised procurement timeline: bids to be in hand by April 30, with the release of funds and loan/bond closing moved to July 31. "We just received release to bid authorization today," the Chair said during the meeting.

Why it matters: the grant and Rural Development loan together fund the plant work; delaying the bid deadline required an administrative extension and pushed the schedule for closing the financing. Staff said the town will advertise the solicitation in the local paper and online and seeks a roughly 30-day bid period to comply with federal advertising requirements.

Details the council recorded: - The town requested and received an extension; bids are to be in hand by April 30 and release of funds (closing) is scheduled for July 31. (Chair) - Advertising: staff will place an initial ad March 13 (to appear March 18) and a second ad March 25, and staff aims for a 30-day solicitation window. - Bid opening: staff proposed publicly opening bids April 15 at 2:00 p.m.; the council discussed holding a special meeting (options cited included April 13 at 6:30 p.m. or April 15) for the bid opening and public reading of bid amounts. - Administrative documents: staff asked council members to sign Rural Development forms, including a right-of-way certificate, a preliminary title opinion limited to the wastewater plant property, and a contractor debarment certificate; the chair said signed documents will be scanned and uploaded to the portal.

Staff (Darren) will post the solicitation in the newspaper and online; the chair said a Commonwealth representative typically attends to help open and check bid packets. Council members asked staff to confirm which meeting will host the public bid opening and to circulate the exact ad language and schedule when available.

Quotations are from the meeting record and attributed to the council member presiding over the session ('Chair').

The next procedural steps: staff will finalize the ad language and posting dates, collect signed Rural Development documents, and schedule the public bid-opening event. The council did not record a roll-call vote on the procurement timetable; decisions and approvals were handled in the course of the meeting.