Council authorizes Veterans Park Phase 1 contract after low bid comes in well under budget

Council authorized the mayor to execute a public works contract for construction of Veterans Park Memorial Walk Phase 1 after staff said the low responsive bid came in substantially below the budgeted amount.

Elizabeth Jones, the city’s projects and grants manager, told the council the city had budgeted approximately $1.6 million for the phase and advertised an engineer’s estimate between $1.2 million and $1.5 million. She said the competitive bidding process produced 10 bids and “Roudenbush Earthworks LLC was determined to be the lowest responsive and responsible bidder with a bid of $1,088,929.75.” Staff recommended approval without any new appropriation, saying the funds will come from the roads and street fund.

Councilor Wood moved and a colleague seconded the authorization. The motion passed by voice vote; the council recorded the motion as carried and authorized the mayor to execute the contract.

The contract award was framed by staff as a procurement win that avoids additional budget authority: Jones said the bid is “approximately $511,000 below the amount budgeted for this construction,” and staff recommended moving forward with the low responsive bidder. The council did not record a roll-call tally in the transcript; the action was approved by the voice vote described at the meeting.

The city will now proceed to finalize contract execution and schedule work for Phase 1 construction. Staff did not provide an explicit construction start date at the meeting, and the contractor name appears with variant spellings elsewhere in the transcript; the contract text cited in the staff presentation used “Roudenbush Earthworks LLC.”