Township Council awards contract to Big Daddy Construction to improve a prefabricated structure.
By: Leon Tovey
MONROE After operating for years out of whatever space happened to be available, the Community Food Pantry could have a permanent home by as early as next spring or summer, township officials said this week.
The Township Council awarded a $139,025 contract to Big Daddy Construction of Monroe on Dec. 6 for improvements to a prefabricated structure that will be used for municipal storage and to house the pantry, bringing an end to a protracted bidding process and months of negotiations.
Township Business Administrator Wayne Hamilton said Tuesday that the township has an outstanding order with Unlimited Structures of Ephrata, Pa., for a structure called a "pole barn" that officials plan to set up at the Township Municipal Complex.
Big Daddy will be responsible for site preparation, installation of utilities and a concrete floor, and other improvements to the structure, which will cost the township $16,500, Mr. Hamilton said.
On Oct. 4, the Township Council rejected bids submitted by Big Daddy and two other contractors, due to what Mr. Hamilton at the time called "fatal flaws" with the bid documents. Mr. Hamilton said there were mathematical errors in the bids that skewed projected costs.
It was the third time bids for the project were rejected by the township for similar reasons, Mr. Hamilton said Tuesday.
"After two rejections, the law allows administrators to negotiate contracts with the bidders," Mr. Hamilton said. "So we gave each of the three contractors a chance to revise their bids. Two did so and that was the basis for the council’s decision."
Mr. Hamilton said township officials were anxious to see the project started, but that with the onset of winter he couldn’t give a timeline. He said work on the site would begin as soon as weather permitted and should take only a few months.
Councilman Henry Miller said Thursday that he hoped to see the building completed by late spring or early summer so that the pantry, which is operated by the Kiwanis Club of Rossmoor, finally could settle into a permanent home.
Mr. Miller said the pantry, which is housed in a trailer at the township Construction Department’s office complex on Gravel Hill-Spotswood Road, was originally located at a suite at the Concordia Shopping Center.
It was forced to relocate first to the township Senior Center, then to the construction complex after the center’s owner rented the space to someone else, Mr. Miller said.
The pantry collects and distributes between 125 and 150 bundles of food each month to needy families in Monroe, Jamesburg, Helmetta and Spotswood, Mr. Miller said.

