By Amy Batista, Special Writer
HIGHTSTOWN — The council tabled its decision to accept the lone qualified bid it received last week for temporary modular facilities in town.
The borough advertised for bids for the buildings Jan. 11. They were due Jan. 30.
However, the only viable bid for review came in from Mobilease Modular Space Inc. It bid in at $159,200 for an administrative temporary facility; and $275,100 for a module police unit. Mobilease is based in West Deptford, New Jersey.
Modular Genius was rejected for missing paperwork, according to Borough Engineer Carmela Roberts. It came in with a $132,249 bid to put in the administrative temporary facility; and $316,987 to install a police facility. Modular Genius is based in Joppa, Maryland.
The council has discussed placing the modular buildings — to house its municipal employees and Police Department — at the historic Ely House, 164 N. Main, parking lot.
Hightstown had yet to secure a lease for the lot, as of the Borough Council meeting. It is owned by Greystone Capital Partners Inc., which also owns the vacant rug mill property on Bank Street.
”We will move forward from there,” Mayor Steven Kirson said.
Last week the bids were sent directly to Roberts Engineering Group in Hamilton, the firm the council selected Jan. 22 to manage its evolving Borough Hall project.
”The bid was for two modular buildings and one storage trailer for that property,” said Borough Administrator Michael Theokas on Feb. 5. “Part of the site plan was to allow for parking spaces and other site improvements necessary for the modular units to fit.”
”I would recommend that you don’t act on this until you know that you have the lease in hand,” Ms. Roberts said of the bids on Monday.
She is serving as project engineer for Borough Hall. Dawson Bloom, from the Roberts firm, has been named project manager.
The council has 60 days from the time the bids came in to award a contract.
The Borough Hall project is 17 months in the making. It was damaged by Irene floodwaters at the end of August 2011 after a month of heavy rainfall.
And despite the council leaning forward toward the modular plan, the future of the Borough Hall remains unknown. It may be reconstructed or still could be refurbished. The complex has been closed since Irene.
Monday, Ms. Roberts informed council that she was not willing to reach out to the insurance company and negotiate or act on the council’s behalf at the moment until she understands the direction the council is going in.
”Until this point, I have not been willing to reach out to the insurance company just as ourselves,” Ms. Roberts said. “There are things that (have) gone on in these meetings and things we discuss . . . questions and opinions that need to come from the borough. I think we need a little more direction on who do you want us working with and what do you want us pushing for.”
Lexington Insurance has sent the borough an estimate of $1.9 million to rebuild or refurbish the Borough Hall.
”Temporary facilities are part of the claim,” Mr. Theokas told the Herald. “Final approval of temporary facilities from the insurance company would be necessary for reimbursement.”
”That is the one milestone that has to be rectified in moving forward before any decisions can be made,” Mr. Bloom said of the $1.9 million estimate at Monday’s meeting.
He also said there needed to be “a follow-up and a movement towards a final claim and decision” as to the council’s vision and intent for the project.
Mr. Bloom recommended to the council to hold a work meeting in hopes of coming up with a “unified consensus.”
”I think coming up with an orderly process of things that need to happen with the temporary and what would be recommended in terms of moving forward in a temporary as well as moving the insurance for Borough Hall construction process along a parallel course,” Mr. Bloom said.
In order to answer the questions and concerns raised by Roberts Engineering Group, the council decided to hold another working meeting on the topic and requested Mr. Bloom as the project manager to “structure the meeting.”
It is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Feb. 15.
Councilwoman Lynne Woods said, “It just seems we are going in circles.”
”We can talk about it but it is part of the cost of the entire package,” Mayor Kirson said. “We don’t want to approach it in pieces; we want to have the project in place.”
”It is unclear to us at this point exactly where you want to go,” Ms. Roberts said.

