News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Cookeville entering negotiations for the repairs of a retaining wall at the Cookeville Performing Arts Center.
Leisure Services Director Rick Woods said that while in the design phase of the improvements they discovered a retaining wall on the east side of the building that needs to be replaced. Woods said that expanding the current project to include the wall repairs would raise the price some $25,000.
“We could do something different with a different designer, different contractor, or different structural engineer,” Woods said. “I don’t know that, I mean that would have to work hand in hand with the bidding that we do with, on this project itself.”
Council Member Chad Gilbert said the cost is too high and wanted to see if they could get a local engineer to do it for less money. The council authorized City Manager James Mills to negotiate the cost of the repairs with the current company for a maximum price of $15,000.
“If that’s not possible, maybe then we can have the discussion of do we go with someone else,” Mayor Laurin Wheaton said.
Woods said they also discussed adding a freestanding, outdoor elevator to the building, but that would have made the project cost increase by a total of some $37,000.
“We were going to bid that as an alternate so if it did come in way over budget, it was going to be way too expensive, we could take that out anyway,” Woods said.
Gilbert said they should also get a sense of how the company plans to repair the wall when negotiating.
“Are they going to take the whole wall down, (are) we just going to pour buttresses, or what their plan is, just broad strokes,” Gilbert said.
