Bainbridge takes bids for water project
BAINBRIDGE -- Wednesday's regular Bainbridge Town Council meeting started an hour late due to a lack of quorum. Naomi Barker did not attend the meeting, and board president Richard Cope was running late. Despite this, board business resumed upon Cope's arrival.
The talk of the meeting was the town's water project. The town has now received bids on the three separate parts of the project: the improvements to the water treatment plant, the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the water tower and the water reading system. Troy Elless, assistant utilities superintendent, said the town has received four bids for the water treatment plant project, six bids for the water tower project and two bids for the water meters. Each bid comes from a different company, and no company had bid for more than one project.
The town received a water grant from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (IOCRA) totaling $917,500 for the total project. If the town chooses the lowest bid on each project -- the low bids of each project being $376,159, $184,286 and $253,025.50 respectively -- the town will still have a lot of grant money left over.
However, the town may not select the plan based solely on lowest cost, and the town's engineers to determine whether they meet the necessary criteria and specifications, Elless said, are reviewing each bid. The town will vote on the different bids at the next scheduled meeting.
Bainbridge also discussed the town's upcoming Clean-Up Day. On May 7, residents can clean up their homes and send their trash and unwanted materials to the town's dumpster. The police and fire department will also help by sending prisoners to help clean the town's sidewalks and streets.
The board also discussed several aspects of road repairs and damage in the town. Rockies Express Pipeline, a natural gas company that damaged several roads when it sent trucks and equipment through the town while building a pipeline several years ago. After extensive discussions with the company for some form of reimbursement, the company has offered a $10,000 settlement to the town. Cope and board member Bonnie Osborn agreed that this would be a satisfactory settlement, and they would be willing to sign a written agreement.
"I think that's as good as we're gonna get," Cope said.
The board also discussed the damaged roads that need to be repaired as soon as possible. Cope said he was concerned about Washington Street and said that everything passed north of U.S. 36 was "trashed."
Since it will not be possible to fix all of the roads at once, the town will likely patch up the rest when the weather gets warmer. However, Town Marshal Rodney Fenwick said he would like to see a different company come to make those patches, as the last patches used have already worn away.
"Depends on who's doing it (but) the last guy did a very terrible job," Fenwick said.