Golf course bids overshoot estimates by $300,000

The lowest bid for overhauling the Jaycees Municipal Golf Course came in $264,000 above the $1.5 million cost estimate, forcing Cape Girardeau city officials to recommend that the City Council try again.

At its regular meeting tonight, the council will hear a recommendation that it reject all eight bids received for the golf course, the first major project ready for contractors that would be funded by a half-cent sales tax approved by voters in April. The fairest way to proceed is to reduce the scope of the golf course project and ask for another round of bids, assistant city manager Ken Eftink said.

When originally designed, the upgrades to the course included installing bent-grass greens and a high-tech irrigation system. The design sent to bidders also includes reconfiguring many holes by taking out some trees and making it a more challenging course overall.

The eight bids ranged $1.76 million by Duininck Golf, a subsidiary of the Prinsburg, Minn., construction firm Duininck Co., to $2.6 million from Niebur Golf, a Colorado Springs, Colo., firm that specializes in golf course construction.

The project will have to be scaled back, Eftink said. It is fairer to repeat the bidding process rather than negotiate with a single contractor, he added.

The council meets at 7 p.m. in City Hall, 401 Independence St.

Check semissourian.com after the meeting for more details on this story.