County Commissioner Kevin Overmyer said the courthouse bell-tower reconstruction project came in higher than expected and he plans to ask the County Council for an additional $500,000 from Rainy-Day to cover the base bid and six alternates included in the project.
During Monday’s commissioner meeting a letter from Peter Kim from Rowland Design recommended Midwest Maintenance from Piqua, OH with a base bid of $1,266,435. Bringing in the six alternates brings the bottom line to $1,496,935. The additional projects include removal of the existing storm windows and replace with new storm windows, painting the architectural elements at the building cornice, soffit and fascia, removing and installing new joint sealants around the windows and doors, removal of existing joint sealant at the column bases and installation of new joints, repair the existing limestone with masonry cleaning and replacement of existing interior thermal windows.
Commissioner Overmyer said, “Since they already have the scaffolding up, its better to bite the bullet and do the complete project then piecemeal it later on.” He also noted that next year will be the 150 anniversary of the courthouse.
Prior to approving the bid of Midwest Maintenance the commissioners took official action to withdraw the bid of Advances Restoration Contractors of Indianapolis. They had the lowest base bidder at $915,000 but in reviewing their bid realized a misquoted figure and requested to have their bid withdrawn. During the bid opening on March 1st, the bid from Ziolkowski Construction of South Bend was withdrawn due to a mathematical error.
The Commissioners will seek additional funds from the Council at their April 12th meeting. In the meantime, the County Attorney will begin reviewing the contracts.
Midwest Maintenance said in their bid proposal it will take them 180 from the notice to proceed date to complete the project.
