Park board will ask council for reserves to cover higher ice-arena flooring bid, approves All American Arena Products bid

The Board of Park Commissioners voted to ask City Council for unassigned reserves and recommended accepting bidder number one, All American Arena Products, to replace the De Pere Ice Center rubber flooring for $149,490.70.

Staff member Marty told the board the project drew four interested contractors and three formal bids; the low bid, at roughly $149,490, was about double the project estimate. Marty attributed the gap to larger quantities in the final scope, higher material costs (including virgin and standard rubber), and additional subfloor replacement in penalty-box and team areas. “Our lowest bid was just a little shy of $150,000 … about double of what we were expecting,” Marty said.

The board considered three options: request unassigned reserves from City Council to cover the difference; deny the bids, revise the scope and rebid in 2027; or deny the bids, break the work into phases over several years. Marty noted a recent state change in competitive-bid thresholds (from $25,000 to $50,000) that could make phasing feasible in smaller chunks, but cautioned phasing would likely take three to four years and could increase total cost because of inflation and repeated mobilization.

Marty reviewed the Ice Arena Fund balance, reporting a roughly $111,104 rollover from 2025 plus additional funds for a total near $135,713. After current commitments (about $80,500) and the De Pere Youth Hockey group’s pledged contribution of up to $50,000, staff estimated the remaining shortfall to accept the low bid at about $44,787.

Commissioner Jim Kneisel asked whether tariffs might explain the higher material costs; Marty said staff would research tariffs but warned that delaying the project to wait for tariff changes would likely push the install into next year and could jeopardize this season’s timeline because the floor must be in before the rink is brought back into service. User-group representative Brandon Bergner, speaking for De Pere Youth Hockey, urged replacing the entire floor at once for a uniform appearance and to encourage further fundraising: “If we could do the floor all of it at one time, have a uniform… I think that’s the best way to go,” Bergner said.

After discussion the board moved to request unassigned reserves from City Council to complete the project and to accept All American Arena Products’ bid of $149,490.70, with staff instructed to confirm any tariff impacts and to follow up with the figure skating group about additional fundraising. Commissioner Jim Kneisel recorded that he would vote against approving funding at this time, saying he would prefer to rebid rather than accept a bid nearly twice the estimate; the motion nevertheless passed by voice vote. The board expects to present the request to council in August.

Next steps: staff will check whether tariffs contributed to the price increase, confirm any additional fundraising from other user groups, prepare the request for unassigned reserves and present the item to City Council for a funding decision.