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Ranlo officials weigh cutting streets from waterline replacement after low bids exceed budget
Summary
Engineers told the Ranlo Board of Commissioners that bids for the Waterline Replacements East project came in roughly $1.77 million over budget, prompting recommendations to remove several streets from the current contract, pursue a bid modification, and use some in-house work to close the gap.
Engineers and town staff told the Ranlo Board of Commissioners that bids for the Waterline Replacements East project exceeded available funding, leaving a significant shortfall.
"The town's done an incredible job at pursuing and winning grant funds," said Matt Edwards, an engineer with the Booten Company, citing about $14,000,000 in recent grant awards. He told the board that the low construction bid for the east waterline replacement came in at $3.5 million, producing a reported deficit of roughly $1.77 million against the project's current budget and available local match funds.
That shortfall leaves the town with three basic options, Edwards said: allocate local funds to cover the gap, reduce the project scope, or negotiate bid modifications with the low bidder. He recommended a combination of scope reductions and in-house work by town crews where practicable.
Edwards proposed removing Ranlo Avenue, Love Street, Crescent Avenue and Burlington Avenue from the current contract and saving them for a later phase. He said town crews, led by public works director CJ Harper, could perform some service reconnections to reduce contractor scope without entirely eliminating service work.
Available and eligible funding reported in the presentation included a local match already posted by the town and carryover funds from completed projects; Edwards stated total funding available for this project was about $2,076,000. The low bid of $3,500,000 and additional project costs (contingency and construction administration) produced the $1.77 million shortfall discussed at the meeting.
Edwards summarized the next steps: negotiate the scope-change and price with the low bidder, prepare a proposed bid modification, submit that modification to the Division of Water Infrastructure for approval, and return to the board to award the contract if the funding agency concurs. "They have to approve it, and then we will bring it back to the board to award the contract to Lewis Sykes Development and then we will kick off construction soon after that," he said.
Commissioners asked for the detailed bid-mod breakdown and clarification of which portions could be deferred. Board members requested specific cost tables and a follow-up report after staff and the engineer finish negotiations and the firm supply any additional documentation the board requested.
The board did not take a final vote on changing the contract scope at the meeting; members directed staff and the engineer to pursue negotiations with the low bidder and return with recommended bid modifications and funding options.
