WESTFIELD – The Senior Center Building Committee voted Friday afternoon to request Mayor Daniel M. Knapik to submit a $7.5 million bond to the City Council Thursday to fund the construction of a new senior center.
The Committee’s vote came immediately after bids for the general contractor were opened by Purchasing Director Tammy Tefft. The contractors submitted packets for the construction project and six alternate construction and equipment options.
The apparent low bid was submitted by Forish Construction of Mainline Drive with a base price of $6,184,541 and a combined price of $6,324,625 for the construction and six alternated.
The other bids were submitted by Marois Construction Inc. of South Hadley ($6,427,000); Sage Engineering Associates of Westfield ($6,672,000); Eastern General Contractors of Springfield ($6,864,000); Enfield Builders Inc., of Enfield, Connecticut ($6,468,000); RAC Builders Inc. of Agawam ($7,800,000); D.A. Sullivan & Sons Inc., of Northampton ($6,298,000); Orlando Annulli & Sons of Manchester, Connecticut ($6,715,322; and WJ Mountford Company of South Windsor, Connecticut ($6,825,000).
The committee did not vote to select a general contractor. Tefft said that the contract submissions still have to be vetted to ensure they comply with the bid specifications and state bidding regulations before the committee can award the contract.
Tim Singleton of Diversified Project Management of East Hartford, Conn., the city’s Owners Project Manager, said that the $7.5 million bond request includes a $539,000 construction budget contingency, about 8 percent of the low combined bid.
Tefft requested the committee to vote to approve all six alternates advertised with the construction contract. The contract was structured with the lower cost options to endure that the bids would fall below $7 million. The alternates replace less expensive materials with better material, such as granite curbing instead of concrete.
Another alternate, #6, is the installation of an emergency generator so the senior center could be used as an emergency shelter in the case of a natural disaster, such as the 2011 Halloween snowstorm which displaced many residents from their homes for nearly a week.
The bid alternates must be accepted in the listed order under state bid law, which was moot in this case because all six were accepted as part of the combined contractor bids.
Council on Aging Executive Director Tina Gorman said the project is on schedule and could be approved for a construction start in late summer or early fall. Construction is expected to be completed in 14 months.
“I’m thrilled about the number of bids submitted and the dollar amounts,” Gorman said. “We’re right on schedule, going to the City Council next week for the bond.”
Tefft said the bond authorization request will be referred to the City Council’s Finance Committee and the Legislative & Ordinance Committee.
“We will request a joint committee meeting to expedite their review,” Tefft said. “Hopefully the (City) Council will approve the first reading at their June 5 meeting and the second reading and final passage at the June 19 meeting. “
State law required a 20-day appeal period following the final passage before the city can expend funds based upon the bond. Typically the actual construction is financed through bond anticipation notes (BANs) and the bond actually sold following competition of the project when the exact dollar amount is known.
City Engineer Mark Cressotti requested the easements associated with the project be revised before they are submitted to the City Council for its approval.
“The easement documents that I’ve seen do not cut the mustard,” Cressotti said. “The document I saw had the easement going out into the pavement which is a public way. The easement should be only to the edge of the city’s public way and not include the pavement. The document needs to be redone.”
Committee Chairman John Leary said that residents “are going to have a very good senior center building. The price comparisons were very reasonable. The fact that 10 bids came in is why we’re getting it at a reasonable price.”
