Russellville gets water main bid, building destruction OK

RUSSELLVILLE -- The Russellville Town Council accepted a bid for its extensive water project at the July regular town meeting on Monday.

Dashiell Contracting Inc., Marshall, Ill., was selected for the project, having placed a bid of $426,023.

The project will replace five water mains, spanning around town and is being paid for by a grant that Russellville was awarded earlier this year from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA).

Wessler Engineering, Indianapolis, designed the project and helped facilitate bids.

Dreama Doolittle, a vice president at Wessler, was at the meeting to help answer questions from the council and explain the bids.

The winning bid was more than $250,000 less than the next lowest bid, and far less than the projected cost of the project, which was estimated by Wessler Engineering to be $610,000.

Four bids were accepted, but one was withdrawn immediately after because, although it was the lowest bid, it was compiled using incomplete expenses.

That bidder asked that, because of an error on their part, they be removed from consideration.

The bid has not been officially awarded to Dashiell because the town first has to have the grant money released by OCRA, which is a multi-step process that requires a number of signatures that could not be done until a total for the project was estimated.

Since the project is now less than the grant total, council president Don Reddish asked about the possibility of adding other small, related projects.

Doolittle said this was not recommended as there may come a need for repairs or extra funds, and the council agreed to, for now, leave the project as is.

As the water project nears construction, it appears the old hotel building may be getting closer to coming down.

The county health department cleared the building as containing no unsafe materials, a step that delayed the destruction for the last two months.

"One way or the other, that thing is coming down," Reddish said. "If we don't hear from the landfill we'll just find some place out of sight and bury it."

Reddish was joking, but he is serious about getting rid of the building, purchased by the town in May for the purpose of removing it as soon as possible. The town has yet to set a date.

In other business:

- On Tuesday the town opened auction bidding for two items: an old police cruiser and a tractor. Bids can be placed at the town office until they are closed on Friday, July 27.