Commotion of paving bids causes delay

      Opening of paving bids was briefly delayed as some changes were made to the Winamac street paving project.  

On July 20, the Winamac Town Council gathered to open street paving bids that were advertised in the Journal on July 5 and July 12. 

Before the bids were opened, one of the company owners asked for an extension of the bid deadline. Kurt Brandstatter, with Central Paving, approached the council asking for an extension of time as there were several questions regarding the project. He said the engineering firm that was hired to oversee the project made changes to it at the last minute. 

Brandstatter said an hour doesn’t give contractors enough time to obtain a bid bond. He said there are still further questions. 

The town is trying to obtain bids now instead of later, because paving companies will soon be tied up with the amount of work that is being requested by those same municipalities that have asked for quotes. The amount of work could be enough that projects will be stalled until next year. 

One of the changes made by the engineering company, according to Brandstatter, was to the undistributed quantity regarding the base of the road. The quantity is used just in case repair needs to be done to the base and was determined on a per-ton basis. 

There was a discussion of whether the undistributed quantity is needed in the bid because it could be considered unnecessary. If the town receives funds for the undistributed quantity and doesn’t use it that funding could be required to go back to the state. 

The second bid by E&B Paving reflected the changes by the engineers. They were not asking for an extension. 

At the time of the July 20 meeting, the council decided to extend the deadline per a recommendation by town attorney Justin Schramm. The council decided to extend the deadline for 48 hours.  

On July 22, the town council opened two bids. The bids were taken under advisement by the council and Zellers will now review them.