Board postpones paving award while staff pursues possible state grant

Street Department Senior Project Manager Ryan Mert asked the board on March 18 to postpone awarding the 26-STR-O2 paving bid (listed in the meeting packet as "Meggening and Botham Street") because a state transportation agency contacted the city about a potential grant that could be up to $1,000,000.

"We got reached out by NDOT to potentially get a grant of could be up to 1000000 dollars to go towards this project," Ryan Mert said. He said engineering had submitted paperwork quickly and staff expected an answer by early next week. The board moved and approved postponement to allow staff to await the grant decision and then return with a recommendation.

The motion to postpone was made from the floor and seconded; the board approved the delay by voice vote. Staff said if the grant is approved the city will return with a request to award the bid taking the grant into account. Because the meeting transcript and agenda packet contain slightly different spellings for the project listing, the board requested staff to report the packet language and the state response before any award is made.