Waverly awards contracts for construction project

BY BRIAN BISHOP (STAFF WRITER)
Published: February 4, 2010

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WAVERLY, N.Y. - The Village of Waverly Board of Trustees voted Wednesday at their meeting to award construction contracts for the Ithaca Street renovation project, which will convert a former school building into the village offices.

The project to purchase and renovate the former Ithaca Street school to house the village services was approved by public referendum in December 2008.

The contracts awarded were as follows, according to a letter of recommendation from Hunt Engineers, the village's engineering firm on the project: general trades contract: Edger Enterprises Inc. of Elmira Heights, N.Y. for $899,000; asbestos abatement contract: Excel Insulation of Wayne, N.J. for $51,880; HVAC contract: Frey and Campbell of Hammondsport, N.Y. for $279,000; plumbing contract: Frey & Campbell of Hammondsport, N.Y. for $142,000; electrical contract: Spectrum Electrical Services of Montrose, Pa. for $290,000.

Dave Adams of Hunt Engineers said the firm had reviewed the bids and had "no qualms" about any of the contractors.

Representatives from Hunt Engineers were at the meeting to discuss the bids and some options the village has going forward. To ensure that the bids came in within the village's $2.9 million budget for the project, portions of the project were identified as alternates and bid separately. Scott Cyr, project manager on the Ithaca Street Project from Hunt Engineers, said the firm had identified seven alternate projects. The alternate projects include replacement of windows on the front and rear of the building, a parking lot near the rear of the building, painting work, ceiling tile work, repointing of masonry and some restrooms in the building, which Cyr said were extra restrooms placed in the design for the sake of convenience.

Adams told the board that the sum of all the base bid contracts was $1,661,880, which is around $31,000 over the amount allocated for construction in the project budget. The budget for the project includes a contingency amount of $212,358, he said, which is around 10 percent of the total budget. Hunt Engineers usually recommends a contingency amount of no less than 7 percent, he said, so by moving money from the contingency amount to the construction funds, the village can stay within budget on the project and still have at least 7 percent in contingency. If the village reduces the contingency funds to around 7 percent, there could be money within the budget to complete some of the alternate projects, he said.

Hunt Engineers recommended that the painting and ceiling tile work identified as alternates be completed, to ensure the building is ready to move in to by the end of construction. The village has 60 days from the date of bid, March 21, to award any or all of the alternate bids, Adams said.

Mayor Kyle McDuffee asked trustees Tom Cocco, Jerry Sinsabaugh and Kyle Sorenson to research the alternate projects and identify which ones the village would be able to include in the project and stay within budget.

Cyr said the project is scheduled for a completion date of Sept. 6, assuming construction starts by the end of February.

Brian Bishop can be reached at (570) 888-9652; or e-mail: bbishop@thedailyreview.com.