2017 is the year that the ‘temporary’ north wall of Kimberley’s Civic Centre will finally be replaced. The wall was erected in 1959 and intended as a temporary fix, yet its replacement has been kicked down the road at budget discussions over the years. This year the city received a $350,000 Columbia Basin Trust grant for the work, as well as an additional $50,000 accessibility grant, as the work will include the construction of a new section of elevated walkway to join up the east and west walkways, creating a walking path.
However, Council still wants to look a little more closely at the planned work before final approval of the plans is give.
A staff report prepared by Director of Operations Mike Fox recommends that the contract for the project be given to Tyee Log Homes for $591,000, but at their regular meeting on Monday, January 23, Council decided to seek a little more information as to why the winning bid was over $100,000 higher than a losing bid.
Count. Kent Goodwin pointed out that the Tyee bid was not the lowest.
CAO Scott Sommerville said that this particular bid process looked at more than just lowest dollars.
“We go out to the bidders and say ‘how would you deal with this?’. In the design build process you don’t always to with the lowest bid. This was recommended as a good solution to the north wall.”
The bid was given points for aesthetics, for being local and using wood rather than metal.
Mayor Don McCormick was not entirely happy with the level of detail in the report.
“The cost differential between bids is $112,000,” he said. “That’s a huge differential and the report doesn’t give sufficient detail. We need more detail to justify spending the extra $100,000. That’s a lot of money at a time when we are telling the public we are watching pennies.
“This must be very clear to taxpayers. It’s $112,000 more. We must justify that.”
He added that it was not about Tyee, who in the past have done very good work for the city.
“It’s just going through the process to spend about six hundred thousand dollars. I’m not comfortable with the report as it stands.”
McCormick recommended that the issue be deferred to the next Committee of the Whole meeting for more detailed discussion of the bids and the scope of the project.
“I appreciate we are anxious to get going but this is just one more step,” he said.
There is a window when construction must take place, that being between the time the ice comes out in the spring and goes back in, usually in August.
However, Council agreed to have another look.