During the City Council meeting on Monday, March 9, 2020, Kyle Lueken of HWC Engineering presented to the full Council the outcome of a meeting held with the Councilmatic Committee on the Parks.
Lueken spoke of the apparent low bidder’s bid coming in over budget, the process used to determine how to identify projects – called value engineering, and areas that would be possible solutions to bring the project back in line.
The Council agreed to the recommendation of removing a building from the project along with the paving of a burm at the parking lot, opting to do the work in-house with Street Department personnel and equipment. This would remove that cost from the bond.
Clinton County Today spoke with Lueken after the close of the City Council meeting to bring insights on the cost estimate overage, the steps involved in value engineering, and what the savings could be.
“The apparent low bidder, when the bid was open, was $1.6 Million over the estimate,” said Lueken.
“What happens often on a project you have to do value engineering, which is looking where you can cut the project, for the lack of a better word or a better description. On this one, to help get the project to move forward, there were really two approaches we saw.”
“The simplest, easiest approach was the concessions itself.”
“That building location, given its location on the site, it could be easily removed from the rest of the project and had proximity where it could be added back in at a future date.”
“The other approach would have been more of a wholesale approach to the entire project.”
“Where removing some of the actual square footage of the pool, to looking at reducing some of the different components of the bathhouse itself – the renovations occurring there, to reducing some of the other amenities – like the beach entry to the pool, the toy structure.”
“So, looking at that across the site of how to cut multiple areas to bring it down.”
“So, presenting those options, the Councilmatic Committee on the Parks felt concessions was the best approach.”
“From our analysis, it was a little shy of a million that we felt the concessions building could save.”
The City Council, the Councilmatic Committee on the Parks, the Finance Committee, and the Board of Works are continuing to look into additional savings.
The next City Council meeting is Monday, March 23, 2020, at 7 p.m. The next Board of Works meeting is immediately prior to at 5 p.m. Both meetings are held in the City Council Chamber at Old Stoney.
