Blaine awards Jackson/126 reconstruction contract to low bidder; council approves 10% contingency

The Blaine City Council voted May 4 to award a contract for the Jackson and 126-area road reconstruction to North Valley, the low bidder.

Director Schwalender told the council bids for the phase came in below the engineer's earlier estimate. The low bid from North Valley was $1,597,000, with the next two bidders at $1,602,000 and $1,640,000. Staff recommended awarding the contract to North Valley and asked council to approve a 10% contingency for the project.

Councilmembers expressed frustration that several recent capital projects have come in over budget and asked staff to examine estimating practices. "We need to figure out how to better assess when project totals are being put into that capital improvement fund," Councilmember Robertson said. The council approved awarding the contract to North Valley and approved the requested contingency.

Note on totals: in the staff presentation staff used slightly different rounded approximations when discussing the contingency and total budget (the presentation referred to totals of approximately $1.7 million and in another place approximately $1.8 million). The council record shows the awarded contract amount ($1,597,000) and the approved 10% contingency; staff will finalize the project budget and contingency accounting in the contract documents.

Next steps: staff will finalize the contract with North Valley, execute the agreement, and monitor work under the approved contingency.