PAB awarded Elm Street work

FORT RECOVERY — A close bid called for a closer examination.

Fort Recovery Village Council awarded the Elm Street reconstruction project to the second-lowest bidder, PAB Construction of Coldwater, after discussion at its meeting Monday.

When village administration opened bids last week, they found the lowest bidders were only $702 apart. PAB Construction of Coldwater bid $426,702 for the project, and Shinn Brothers Inc. of Celina bid $426,000.

Generally the lowest bid is selected, but with PAB already working on the intersecting Broadway Street project, Diller said it could be easier and potentially cheaper to have the same company continue work on Elm Street. He recommended council members accept the PAB bid for this reason, but he noted that he’d be confident in the quality of the work of either firm.

“We’ve used Shinn for a number of projects in the last few years, and they do a great job for us,” he said.

Council members then awarded the bid to PAB.

In other construction news, work on Broadway Street is slated for completion by Oct. 31, at which point construction will begin on Elm Street.

Designs for the Monument Park lighting are nearly complete.

The monument park committee — consisting of Diller and former village council member Ken Romer — raised about $15,000 for the lights, and Fort Recovery Historical Society agreed to cover costs for lights to the monument itself. The local historical society and Diller are working with Ohio History Connection and architecture and engineering firm Garmann/Miller of Minster for the final new lighting designs.

Diller estimated the new LEDs will reduce park lighting costs by $700 or $800.

Diller is also still working on changes to the village’s zoning ordinance. When he’s finished, the proposed changes will be reviewed in a few meetings by the planning commission and later read in a public hearing.

Great Lakes Community Action Partnership will return to continue the GIS satellite utilities map next week. Diller noted the team may return for one more trip after that to finish the project.

In other business, council members Erik Fiely, Cliff Wendel, Luke Knapke, Al Post, Scott Pearson and Greg Schmitz approved the final joint resolution to create the Southern Mercer County Joint Ambulance District. Mayor Dave Kaup will be attending monthly meetings starting Thursday as the Fort Recovery representative.

Council members also appropriated 2020 funds, which had a $17,000 net increase. One such appropriation included adding $18,000 to funding for the water plant for materials.