Bids come in low

Bids for a sewer improvement project on Portland’s southeast side came in low enough that a handful of city streets may be paved as part of the project.
The Portland Board of Works opened bids this morning for the Steen Addition storm and sanitary sewer separation project. The apparent low bidder is Bruns Building Corp., St. Henry, Ohio, which submitted a base bid of $656,745.38. The base bids ranged up to $820,712.
Each bid also included six alternates. The alternates are for the paving of Pittsburg Avenue, Reed Street, Massachusetts Avenue, an alley located between Detroit and Massachusetts avenues, Detroit Avenue and Hagins Avenue. The base bid includes the paving of Floral Avenue.
The city recently was awarded a $600,000 Community Focus Fund grant from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The city has $380,500 in utility funds set aside for the project. The total bid, including the six alternates for Bruns is $683,362.70.
The board plans to meet Thursday, Aug. 12, at 10 a.m. to award a contract.
The project will improve drainage in the addition. During times of heavy rain, water puddles in the addition.
David Ayala of R.W. Armstrong said this morning that the work is expected to take about 180 days to complete. If the aforementioned paving projects are included, construction would extend to about 270 days. Work is expected to begin as soon as the contract is awarded.
The city also received the following base bids: A. Landon Excavating, Portland, $700,755.38; LICA Construction, Berne, $721,180.61; Brackney Inc., Brookville, $732,456; Fleming Excavating, Decatur, $738,955.96; VTF Excavation, Celina, Ohio, $739,510.35; Geiger Excavation, Fort Wayne, $769,636.50; Atlas Excavating, West Lafayette, $820,712; Milcon Concrete, Troy, Ohio, $846,177.20.
Also this morning, board members voted to pay an electric bill for a lift station owned by the city and used by POET Biorefining-Portland.
The $3,237.52 bill from Jay County REMC for September 2007 to April 2009.
In May of 2009, the city accepted ownership of a sewer line and a lift station used by POET. In an agreement signed in 2007, city officials agreed to pay utility costs between the time the agreement was signed and when the city took ownership of the sewer line.[[In-content Ad]]