City engineer recommends awarding drainage contract; council directs bid award despite funding gap

The Marksville City Council was told by the city engineer that bids have been received for a drainage-improvement project at the Andress and Preston intersection and that staff recommends awarding the work to Clark Land Development.

In the engineer’s report, he said proposals were requested from nine contractors and described multiple responses. He reported a leftover balance of about $81,000 from a prior utility-relocation project (LA452) that had been identified as the likely funding source. The engineer said the recommended award would be approximately $93,159, leaving a roughly $12,000 shortfall if the council accepts the low-dollar recommendation as presented.

Council members moved to award the contract to the low bidder and approved the motion by voice vote. During the discussion, the engineer outlined options including trimming the project scope to fit the $81,000 or proceeding and covering the difference from another city source.

The engineer also reported progress on a LCDBG public-streets improvement project (advertisement set to run April 17) and noted that a bid opening is expected before the next council meeting so the council could consider awards then.

Next steps: council approved proceeding with the recommended drainage work; staff will finalize the contract and return with any required budget amendment or scope revision to cover the $12,000 difference, and the advertised LCDBG work will proceed to bid opening.