Bids for two Cape projects come in under budget

The bids for two major Cape Girardeau construction projects came in below budget, city engineer Kelly Green said Tuesday.

The city received six proposals, opened Tuesday, to build about eight miles of water mains to connect four new city wells near the Diversion Channel to the water treatment plant on Cape Rock Drive, Green said. The bids are still under review, she said, but she expects to recommend that the city council hire R.L. Persons Construction of Poplar Bluff, Mo., for the job. Persons bid $1.94 million, while the other five companies seeking the work sought between $2.16 million and $3.44 million, she said.

The other project, to extend Fountain Street from Morgan Oak Street to William Street, drew three bids, with Nip Kelley Construction Co. of Cape Girardeau offering the lowest price at $1.02 million. The other bidders, Fronabarger Concreters and Jokerst Construction, both bid approximately $1.25 million. The bids were opened last week, and Green said she expects to recommend that Nip Kelley receive the work.

"We are not quite finished reviewing all the information," Green said. "Both have a lot of grant paperwork involved, and we are making sure they submitted all the paperwork required."

The city has about $4.5 million available for waterworks projects and the contract to build the water main was the most important, said John Richbourg, city finance director. The low bid will mean the city should be able to do other work, including construction of an elevated storage tank, citywide fire hydrant replacement and a new sludge system at Water Plant No. 2, he said.

The cost of the water main could increase if extra pumping power is needed to move the water from the wells to the treatment plant, Richbourg said.

The city is using a $1 million federal economic stimulus grant, $1.07 million in water bond funds remaining from a 1998 bond issue, a $975,000 loan from a state revolving fund and $1.5 million in sales tax generated from water sales to finance the project.

The Fountain Street project is funded through two Missouri Department of Transportation grants totaling $596,032, a Community Development Block Grant of $400,000, an allocation of $300,000 from the city's transportation sales tax and up to $450,000 from the city's allocation of state fuel tax funds.

About $377,000 has already been spent on Fountain Street for design and land acquisition. The bid from Nip Kelley means that not all of the city funds set aside for the project will be needed, Richbourg said.

"We got good bids on both of them, so we are pleased," Richbourg said.

When construction will start is uncertain, Green said. If the council approves the bids, additional approval will be needed from the agencies providing grants before contractors can be told to begin work, she said.

"I would truly love to see" Fountain Street work begun by Jan. 1, Green said. "But that is relying on things completely out of my control. And then, of course, it is going to depend on the weather."

rkeller@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent addresses:

401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, MO