JACKSON WATER MAIN PROJECT REBID; BUS PERMIT APPROVED

JACKSON - The East Jackson Boulevard water main project is apparently back on schedule again. The project was delayed when the low bidder did not post a performance bond in January.

On Monday, the Jackson board of aldermen opened bids for a second time on the project.

The Mark Skinner Company of Jackson was the apparent low bidder to install about 6,000 feet of eight-inch and six-inch water main along the highway to a point near Interstate 55. However, Skinner must post a contractor's performance bond with the city within 10 days of March 5.

Skinner failed to post a performance bond when he submitted his first low bid of $35,035 on the water main project last December. Instead, he asked the board of aldermen in January to accept a letter of credit. But acting on the advice of the city attorney, the board refused. The Skinner bid was later nullified when no bond was received, and the project was rebid.

Alderman Paul Sander explained the city was did not award the bid to any of the other December contractors because their bids were above the engineer's estimate.

Skinner's March 4 bid was $43,435. The other four bids that were submitted ranged from $54,466 to $74,267. The engineer's revised estimate of the project is $46,000.

Sander said as soon as the performance bond is received, the contract will be signed. "We'd like to get started as soon as possible," he added.

In other business, the board voted unanimously to grant a special use permit to the Jackson School District to construct a school bus parking lot and 60 by 100 foot maintenance building on Orchard Drive. The facility will be located immediately east of the new elementary school on a tract owned by the school district.

School Superintendent Wayne Maupin told the board the district will maintain the "green space" between the parking lot and a nearby residential area to the east. "We intend to add to that area," he said.

Maupin said the school buses would use Orchard Drive exclusively to enter and leave the parking lot, which will be secured by a chain link fence.

Maupin said the old bus garage will be cleaned up and used for storage.

The board set Monday, March 18 as the date for a public hearing on the city's 1991-92 budget. The hearing will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the board meeting room at city hall.

The board also authorized Mayor Carlton Meyer to sign a one-year, renewable, operating agreement with the Sikeston Municipal Power Company for purchase of electrical power. The contract extends from June 1, 1991 to May 31, 1992.