East Grand Forks council members review bid for federal project

May 9—EAST GRAND FORKS — City Council members considered whether to reject a lone bid received for an East Grand Forks federal renovation project during their work session Tuesday.

The project will consist of street, sidewalk and ADA upgrades along a portion of Fifth Avenue Northeast.

Council members authorized City Engineer Steve Emery to file plans and specifications as well as proceed to advertise for bids

early last month

. Three potential bidders withdrew plans with a lone bid coming from Opp Construction in the amount of $1,698,898.10, which is approximately 24% higher than the engineer's estimate.

Emery said one factor in the higher bid is due to timing along with current material costs.

"I did talk to one of the contractors that had pulled plans and he basically told me that just with their current workload, they had kind of opted not to bid it," Emery said. "So I think it's timing and then just where we're at right now I think with the industry just with inflated material costs, the demand for labor. I think just all of it is kind of a combination driving up costs."

In addition to the $1.6 million construction cost, the plans, inspections, administration and contingencies will bring the total project cost to $1,999,831.99. Of that, $860,000.00 will come from federal "subtarget" funds, $241,142.00 will come from special assessments and $898,689.99 will come from the city's State Aid, which currently has a balance of $1,398,230.54.

During their meeting, several council members questioned whether the bid should be rejected and for the city to go out for bids again.

"Do you think we'd get additional numbers and a little bit lower price like we did on the HAWK signal, or are we setting ourselves up for some frustration with higher numbers next year?" council member Brian Larson asked Emery.

Emery said his professional opinion is that better bids are anticipated since contractors are currently busy with other projects.

"My guess would be I would think if we rebid it maybe we would see a 10% savings from where we're at right now," he said.

Currently, the bid from Opp Construction is being reviewed by the Minnesota Department of Transportation Office of Civil Rights, and can't receive council approval until MNDOT approves it.

Also Tuesday, council members were briefed by City Clerk and Interim City Administrator Megan Nelson on unpaid special assessments from the U.S. Postal Service property.

In 2015 a street improvement project was completed, with the U.S. Postal Service property receiving end benefits from the project. The special assessments were added to the property tax statement in 2016 with the project being assessed over seven years.

While payments were received for the first three years in the total amount of $209.94, payments stopped in 2019. The four years of payments from 2019-2022 of principal and interest total $279.92.

Nelson said Polk County received notification from an attorney for the Postal Service that the USPS is not required to pay special assessments unless directed by Congress.

The next step is to draft a resolution stating that the remaining amount should be deemed uncollectable. That resolution will need to be approved by the council and then presented to the county.

Nelson said at this time there hasn't been any notification from the U.S. Postal Service that it is seeking to be reimbursed for the amount it has paid.

In other news Tuesday, council members considered approving a facility assessment of Fire Station #2 in the amount of $10,500. The last time the facility, which was built in 1977, received a remodel was after the 1997 Flood. Renovations would consider building systems, lighting, paint, ceiling, plumbing, kitchen, appliances, code compliance and other deficiencies. Fire Chief Jeff Boushee said the renovation would also factor in gender equality updates.

"That station is not set up for gender equality at the moment and it's not a matter of if, it's when we hire a female," Boushee said. Funding for the assessment will come out of the city's Building Maintenance Fund.

The council also considered allowing Pedal Pub to operate in East Grand Forks. The proposed route would take the bike pub through downtown East Grand Forks and Grand Forks.