Process not expected to delay library construction

By Adam Hocking

Editor

MARSHFIELD — The city of Marshfield bid out 32 different construction aspects of the Everett Roehl Marshfield Public Library project, and when the bids came back on May 28, many came in right around the cost that the city anticipated.

However, certain bid areas received no bids, other bid categories had higher than expected bids, and some bids were not submitted with the proper protocol. In some cases not following the proper protocol was something as simple as bidders sending their bids to Boson Company Inc., which is the construction manager for the project, when the bids needed to instead be sent to the city, said Marshfield’s Director of Planning and Economic Development Jason Angell.

The Board of Public Works held a special meeting Tuesday night to reject the unaccepted bid categories, and the city will now rebid these areas.

The categories that will be rebid are the following: rebar, steel furnish, steel installation, building works, casework, waterproofing, building insulation, doors and hardware, aluminum and glass, accessories, exterior signage, shades, and landscaping.

Angell said that the city bid 32 areas of the project to “make sure that we were getting enough qualified bidders to be able to work in those different or unique areas of the project, and, also, it gives a better opportunity for the local contractors to have a chance at working on the project.”

Angell said that in total about 50 businesses put in bids for areas of the project. He added that it was likely that a dozen or more contractors could potentially work on the project. While many bid areas did receive acceptable bids, the city will wait until it has competitive bids in all areas of the project to present them to the common council for approval, Angell said.

“We’re not going to ask the council to accept any of the bids until we can bring forward a complete project,” Angell said. “We’re waiting to get all of the bid categories in an acceptable position to guarantee that we have the best bid package that we’re going to get for the overall project and then present everything to the council in early July to ask them to basically approve and authorize the entire project rather than piecemeal it through.”

Angell said the original bids that were opened on May 28 are valid for 45 days, and rebidding the areas of the project that did not receive adequate bids would have to be completed within that time frame. The second round of bids, Angell said, would be due on June 25. The common council is planning a special meeting on July 7 to act on whether or not to accept bids for the 32 aspects of the project should the entire bid package have come together by that point.

Groundbreaking on the Everett Roehl Marshfield Public Library is expected to be in late July or early August.