Bids overbudget at Mora waste facility

By Danielle Strenke
The East Central Solid Waste Commission tabled awarding a bid for replacing the leachate storage tank at its Mora facility.
During its April 14 meeting, the ECSWC reviewed four bids on the project. The lowest of the bids ñ at $239,545 ñ was $100,000 over the projected amount.
ìDo we have a legal reason for saying we reject all bids?î Board Chair George Larson of Isanti County asked.
Interim Executive Director Janelle Troupe said the commission could do so, because all of the bids were so far over budget.
Larson said he would like to give authorization to Troupe to renegotiate with the companies and come back with revised bids at the commissionís May meeting.
ìWho are we negotiating with ñ I think we should go with the three lowest,î Dennis McNally of Kanabec County said.
Chisago County Commissioner Bob Gustafson said the commission had historically only negotiated with the lowest two bidders.
The lowest bid on the project came from EnComm Midwest, at $239,545. Marcy Construction as the next lowest, with a bid of $279,610. Bids were also submitted by Redstone Construction Co. and Belair Excavating.
McNally asked if the commission could look at subcontracting for some of the project, such as electrical work. ìCan we ask if the contractors would be interested in going piece by piece?î he said.
ìThen weíre talking about a lot of time, weíre stretching this out. Thatís something we should decide now,î Larson said.
The commission directed Troupe to look into whether it was an option to re-negotiate the bids at all. ìIf we canít negotiate, I guess weíll have to come back and go with the lowest bid,î Larson said.
A special meeting will be held immediately prior to the next strategic planning stakeholderís meeting for the ECSWC, scheduled for Thursday, May 1 at the Pine County Courthouse. Troupe told the commission she will bring new information on the bids to the group at that time so they can award the bid.
The commission has also sent information out to obtain bids on expansion of the landfill into phase 5. A pre-bid meeting was held with representatives of nine companies and led by the commissionís engineer Fred Doran of R.W. Beck.
Doran said the bids would be ready for review May 1, so the commission could award that bid during the special meeting as well.
Construction of the expansion is schedule to begin June 2 and be completed by the end of the summer.
The ECSWC will contract for consulting services from outgoing director Allen Bonini as issues arise. Bonini resigned from his position at the ECSWC, effective March 31 to work as a consultant for a firm in Iowa.
Specifically, Bonini will be asked to consult on the strategic planning process, which will be completed this year, and legislative issues which he had been working on.

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