by Greg Lincoln
The Bethel City Council approved an action memorandum that directs administration to negotiate and execute a contract for the construction of a much-needed new animal control facility.
In 2023, over 200 animals came through the shelter, which has been deemed unsafe and a health hazard by shelter advocates, organizers, staff, and volunteers.
Action Memorandum 24-24 was on the agenda for the August 27th, 2024 regular meeting. The item was introduced by Acting City Manager Lori Strickler.
The Administration for the City of Bethel seeks authorization to engage in contract discussions and negotiations with UIC Construction LLC, for the construction of the Animal Control Facility, says AM 24-24.
The City Council allocated:
$800,000 in the FY2023 Capital Budget
$400,000 in FY 2024 Capital Budget
$300,000 in the FY 2024 Capital Budget through Ordinance 23-11 (g) budget amendment.
$1,000,000 Pledged in the FY25 Capital Budget
The total allocation for the animal control center is $1,500,000 with a $1 Million Dollar Pledge from the Council if additional funding is not secured.
According to the action memo, DOWL, the City’s Engineering contractor, prepared the architectural, mechanical, electrical and structural design along with drafting of the request for bid document at the request of the City for the Animal Control Center.
The Request for Bid was presented as a Design Bid Build, which simply means since the design work was completed in advance (by DOWL), the contractors bidding on the construction of the project would only need to build the already designed facility.
The City released the Request for Proposals with a due date of April 26th, 2024, and a construction deadline of November 30, 2024. The lowest bid for the project was UIC at $2.338M. The bid was considered to be responsive, and they met the minimum qualifications. In accordance with the Bethel Municipal Code, a bid protest period was issued and a notice of intent to negotiate on May 3, 2024. No appeals to the decision to negotiate were presented by other parties.
Since the low bid was $1,047,349 over the capital budget amount approved by the City went back to the low bidder to identify opportunities to cut costs through value engineering options. This process brought the construction costs down from 2.338M to $2,011,425, still over the amount available so the City ended the contract negotiations with UIC.
The low bidder’s quote has expired however, UIC has indicated they are still interested in progressing with the build. To engage the contractor to determine if the contractor is first, able to perform the work, but also provide updated quotes for the new construction timeline, Administration seeks to initiate a contract negotiation in response to their winning proposal to see if a contract can be negotiated.
Council approved Action Memorandum 24-24, the item passed on the consent agenda.
