Council awards $1.08 million sanitary sewer contract to Musson Brothers

The Alcester City Council voted on a motion to award the base bid for the city’s sanitary sewer improvement project to Musson Brothers for $1,077,019.25.

Chair Christy opened the item and asked staff to review the bid results. Tanya, the staff member presenting the recommendation, said the city would award only the base bid and defer alternates until the project team has a clearer picture of pipe condition and total costs. "We reached out to I think it was 7 contacts... in general, I would say all of the references were favorable, in the sense that there were no major issues on the project," Tanya said, while also noting one referenced project that experienced permitting delays when lining under a state highway.

City attorney Sam advised the council on the legal standard for choosing a "lowest responsible bidder," saying staff and the attorney's office had vetted proposals and that if the council chose a bid other than the lowest monetary offer it should articulate reasons in the minutes. Chair Christy explained the council’s decision: "I want to state that the reason that we are not choosing the lowest monetary value bidder is because of the discussion that we have had on multiple projects... They have had late project completion dates being pushed out several months up to over a year. We have reached out to different companies that they have worked with and have not been favorable. So we are going with who we see as the lowest responsible bidder."

A committee member moved to award the base bid to Musson Brothers as the lowest responsible bidder; the motion was seconded and passed by voice vote. The council did not record an individual roll-call tally in the transcript. Tanya confirmed the contract amount, stating "$1,077,019.25." The council directed staff to proceed with the award and to document the reasons for choosing the bidder they deemed responsible.