Tupelo City Council rejects over budget Fairpark Restroom bids, await redesign
Aug. 4—TUPELO — Tupelo city officials are back to the drawing board after bids for the Fairpark restroom project came back significantly over budget.
The Tupelo City Council unanimously rejected bids to install restrooms in downtown Tupelo's Fairpark on Tuesday after the lowest bid came in at more than $150,000 over the project's budget.
Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Neal McCoy, who has led the project, said the lowest bid came in at a little over $500,000. The city has budgeted $350,000 to build the restrooms.
The project, which the city modeled after a historic train depot, would have four individual use restrooms comprised of a male, female and two family restrooms. There are currently no restrooms at the park.
McCoy said families often come to the neighboring City Hall to use the bathroom but that was an imperfect solution because families could only access the building during business hours.
"It is needed, and I think the support is there from the public to do it," McCoy said.
McCoy told the Daily Journal the city received four bids for the project. The highest bid came in at $759,000.He said he was unsure what brought the costs so far out of the city's price range but pointed to rising costs in material and labor.
"That is the nature of where we are with construction costs these days," he said.
The next step, McCoy said, is to work with engineers to find cost-saving measures. He said the city has between two to three months before weather will cause the project to be delayed.
"Timing is a big deal," he said.
Mayor Todd Jordan said he understood the need for the bathroom and hoped once redesigned, the project would fall within the $350,000 budget.
"We were disappointed bids came in over budget," he said, noting that they had to walk a balance of style and functional longevity.
Board President and Ward 2 Councilman Lynn Bryan said, along with tweaking the design to lower cost, the council would most likely need to increase the project's budget.
With the cost of materials seemingly in constant flux, estimating the project's price tag, he said, could be a challenge.
"It is 90 days for the bid and another 30 to 60 days before construction can begin," he said. "(Contractors) can't guarantee the price."
