Aldermen Approve $21K Change Order For Paving Job
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By MARK EVANS
STE. GENEVIEVE HERALD
Among the ordinances passed at last Thursday’s Ste. Genevieve Board of Aldermen meeting, one generated some discussion
An ordnance approving a change order with Jokerst, Inc., for an additional $21,005 for the 2023 street-paving program was passed 8-0, but only after it was hashed out a bit.
Jokerst was asking for the additional money after having to get equipment to properly mill the western half of Linn Drive from Audubon to Rozier, so the asphalt is not taller than the sidewalks and driveways.
This raises the total cost of the project to $299,620.
Ward 2 Alderman Bob Donovan said he saw the need for it, “because basically we’re stopped there now.”
He asked whether Jokerst missed the need for the special milling during the pre-bid meeting.
“I think everybody missed it because we had all three contractors that put in bids on this project out there walking it,” City Administrator Happy Welch replied. “We talked about milling but nothing was said about needing to bring in a heavier piece of equipment or we would have included that as understood to be part of the project. We looked at it and thought that the equipment they had could take care of it. But Jokerst says that their equipment can’t take care of it.”
Some discussion also took place during Welch’s city administrator’s report when he indicated that the bid for boardroom audio/video installation in the city hall remodeling job had come in at $62,479 – well above the $50,000 limit the city hall committee had placed on the item.
“We took it back to him and said, ‘Hey, if you just do the video part of it, it’ll probably be under $50,000, can we go with that?’” Welch said. “They’ve turned it down. They didn’t feel it would be functioning, as they would want it to function. At this point, we don’t have an audio video system for the boardroom to put in. So we’re going to scramble and see if we can come up with at least roughing it in and then maybe do something later that we feel is going to be satisfactory for that room. I agree with them, I don’t want to put anything in that’s unsatisfactory, not going to work.”
Ward 4 Alderman Mike Raney asked whether they would end up “retrofitting” walls later, if the equipment weren’t set up now.
“We’ve got everything open now,” he said.
Welch said it could be wired and roughed in
Donovan asked if they wanted to “spend money now or later.”
“Now is a lot easier,” Welch said, “but the advantage we have with that room is that we’re open in the basement so we can access if we need to drop something and run to another room to connect to an amplifier or to a control system. If everything was going to be boxed in then it’s like you have to do something at this point. But I think we can as long as we do something with the walls, get in the wiring that we need, drop them down below, wrap them up, then we should be able to figure it out later.”
Welch also reported that he might do one more interview for tourism director before making a selection. He said he hopes to have a person in place by the second week of October.
He called it a very good group of candidates.
“This pool is much better than the last group,” he said.
Welch also noted that the Middle Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge Final Land Protection Plan had been approved. Ultimately, walking trails could be added, allowing people better access to the river.
The remainder of the meeting, including reports by Ryan Pollock, assistant police chief, Steve Wilson of Alliance Water Resources, and David Bova, assistant city administrator, will be reported in the Oct. 11 edition.