Hillsboro accepts $697,000 bid for street project years ago
The Hillsboro City Council approved a $697,000 bid from APAC-Kansas company for the Main Street revitalization project Tuesday afternoon during a special meeting.
The Wichita-based company was one of three companies that submitted bids for the project. APAC came in about $100,000 lower than Cornejo & Sons and Ritchie Paving of Wichita and Manhattan respectively. The bid amount also came in about $20,000 under the city engineer's estimate.
The three companies were asked to give bids on two different completion dates, July 25 and Sept. 5, because of the council's growing concerns about traffic flow problems that might occur during the Marion County Fair and the Hillsboro Arts and Crafts Festival.
Ritchie Paving offered the only bid on the early completion date.
"Do you think it's worth the extra cost?" Mayor Delores Dalke asked the council members. "It's a considerable amount of savings if we wait and go with APAC."
Council member Leonard Coryea asked the council to consider the expediency of the project for the businesses affected by the construction.
The city ultimately accepted the APAC bid because Ritchie's additional $21,000 for the early completion was deemed excessive.
"By accepting this bid and moving ahead on this project, you'll save everyone after you the pain of having to deal with this later," City administrator Steve Garrett said to the council.
Garrett also noted that approximately $500 would be charged to the company for each day that they are over the final completion day.
In other council business:
— Mayor Delores Dalke signed a tax exemption certificate for the Main Street project after recommendation from the council.
— The council approved the purchase of a used fork-lift for the Hillsboro water plant for the amount of $5,250.
"This is about half of what you would expect to pay for a model like this," Garrett said. "It's going to be a time saver."
— The council held an executive session to discuss the acquisition of property.
