By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Rebuilding the Hillsborough Middle School parking lot just got $95,000 more expensive.
The school board had to disqualify the lowest bidder for the project, and take the second-best quote Monday night. The board rescinded its award to Stillo Excavation and awarded it to Halecon Inc.
Stillo, the lowest of four bidders, had won the job on April 25 with a base bid of $1,077,141.89. Halecon’s bid is $1,172,938.
The $1.17 million figure, even after legal and contingency and other “soft” costs are added, now appears to be slightly below the $1,426,461 the board estimated when it asked for the public’s borrowing approval in a March 8 referendum.
The board will borrow money for a short term after costs for a second project — the replacement of the artificial turf on the high school athletic field — becomes known.
In the referendum material, the cost of that job was estimated at $608,048. Bids are expected to be opened on May 19, and approved at the next board meeting on May 24.
The board can borrow up to slightly more than $2 million to pay for both jobs. More importantly, borrowing money even with a one-year note puts the school board in position to receive 40 percent of the total cost of the two jobs — conceivably more than $800,000 — through state debt relief aid. The board will pay the remainder of the costs by shifting money from its capital account.
By getting state aid and using money already saved, the board anticipates no new tax impact on property owners.
The board has deemed the artificial turf on the athletic field to be potentially unsafe for play.
The potholded parking lot will undergo rebuilding to improve drainage, redirect traffic flow and be repaved.
Both projects will be started this summer and completed in time for the start of school in the fall.
After the board attorney reviewed the approved bid package for the paving job, he found the bid to be “materially defective” because Stillo’s electrical subcontractor did not submit a form from the state Department of the Treasury’s Division of Property Management and Construction detailing the total amount of the subcontractor’s uncompleted contracts.
That constituted a “material, non-waiveable defect,” according to the board and disqualified Stillo. The form could not be submitted after the fact, the board said.
The second-lowest and now most “responsible” bid was Halecon’s.
