Colby accepts $83K bid for city hall office renovations
Colby’s city council made a unanimous decision to select Market & Johnson out of Eau Claire for its upcoming city hall renovations project during its July 6 monthly meeting The city council received two bids for renovations, an $83,000 bid from Market & Johnson, and a $127,000 bid from Ellis Stone. The two bids were presented by Henry Berry, the president of Raatsch Engineering Company, a firm based out in the city of Neillsville that designed the renovations.
“On June 29, we received two bids for the office alterations . . .the base bid included removing a wall and building a new wall, reworking the ceiling tile, removing the case work for the storage room and adding new case work in the clerk’s office, adding a new door out the back, along with new stairs,” he said.
Council member Dan Hederer questioned Berry as to why the two bids diverged so much in price, to which Barry admitted he wasn’t quite sure.
“I don’t know why,” he said. “I’d say maybe some of it’s distance, and maybe they’re just looking at it differently. Maybe they have a busier summer, and if they’re going to do it, they’re looking to make a little bit more money.”
Along with selecting Market & Johnson’s base bid of $83,000, the council also agreed to explore three alternatives that would add improvements to the hall’s security and air conditioning units.
Depending on if the council chooses to pursue the alternative bids, the cost of construction could increase anywhere from just over $1,700 to upwards of $3,300. The first alternative bid is the most expensive of the three, and would add security glazing for two windows, increasing the cost of production by $3,379. The second alternative bid would provide alternative glazing for a door, which would cost around $2,200.
The security glazing adds another level of protection within city hall, though Berry noted it was expensive. But after hearing concerns from the city’s clerk/ treasurer Connie Gurtner, Berry felt the security glazing was something that was worth pursuing.
The cheapest of the three bids involves demolition of the existing air conditioning condenser pads and providing a new, 5’x16’ concrete pad for new air conditioning condensers. The city has budgeted $60,000 towards renovations, with additional funds coming from the American Recovery Act of 2021.
The council entertained the idea of updating its air conditioning units, which date back nearly 30 years, but before they choose to go forward with this project, they requested DPW Harland Higley request bids for next month’s meeting.
Berry said the next step for the renovations will be to gather the materials, and then move into the space that is typically used to hold city and committee meetings and conduct elections.
“The general time frame is to start construction at the end of November, and that would give us a two week cushion because Connie said she’d like to move back in at the end of December.”
Berry said the hope is to have all construction, including any possible security glazing, done before the start of the new year, so that the city can hold February elections in the hall.
Other business
_ Ward 3 Ald. Lony Oesterich resigned from the council after moving out of his district. The city council is looking for candidates to replace Oestreich.
_ The council agreed to a hire a police officer at an hourly wage of $23.48.
