News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Spencer City Council tabled a decision on a sidewalk project Thursday after receiving just one bid for the project.
The Safe Routes To School Sidewalk project would create a sidewalk from the Board of Education building and run along Billingsley Street and end in front of the T-DOT garage. Spencer Engineering Consultant Zeida Hillis said the city opened bids Thursday afternoon, receiving one for $536,390.
“The issue we have with that is there is only $224,000 in the grant for that project,” Hillis said. “So if you awarded this project the city would be responsible for the additional funding to build a sidewalk. You do not have funds to do that and I am aware of that.”
Hillis said she and city officials reached out to T-DOT to see if they could find additional funding. Hillis said T-DOT Transportation Program Monitor Lisa Dougan said she would actively look for additional funding.
“They want this project to be funded as well because they have worked with it as long as we have,” Hillis said. “But she is going to look to see if there is any additional funds. She said there’s a possibility there could be some grant funds with an 80/20 like a 20 percent match. There was never any way that you were going to get out without paying some.”
Hillis said the city could look to Van Buren County Schools for additional funding for the project.
“At one time when we first started this project years ago the school board had committed verbally to $50,000 that they would match,” Hillis said. “That was under the previous administration and a previous director so we were going to wait to bid the project and then go back to them to see if they would still be willing to commit some funds.”
Hillis said the original goal was for the school system and the city to $50,000 each for the project to cover the remaining costs. Hillis said she would hate for the city to not do the project but currently the price tag is too steep.
Hillis said they did have a second bid but it was submitted to late and legally the city could not consider the bid. Hillis said the late bidder told her that the bid was significantly less the other bid. Hillis said the city can consider rebidding the project button to keep expectations that they would not receive many bids.
“If we do not have to go back and start the whole NEPA process over it is a possibility that we can rebid it and maybe try to get that bidder plus additional,” Hillis said. “We have advertised it and changed the bid date twice to try to get interest. It is a small project and when you are dealing with TDOT and NEPA requirements it is hard to get bidders that want to deal with that. There is a lot of extra steps you have to take on those projects so it always drives your price up.”
In other business, the council approved to adoption of the International Building Code 2018 edition. Council approved the first reading to accept the state police salary supplement and increase in General Liability Insurance. The council appointed Brandon Griffin as a Special Substitute Municipal Judge.
The council approved to pay off the Tennessee Municipal League Loan. Spencer Mayor Alisa Farmer said this was a loan the city had for utilities and in order to complete the merger with the Warren County Utility District it had to be paid off as they can not have any debts regarding utilities. The balance is around $459,000.
