Town OKs engineering bid for highway garage project

NORTH EAST — The town of North East and the village of Millerton are working together to get a new highway garage facility built. It’s sorely needed as the town’s current garage at 11 South Center St., Millerton, is in a state of neglect and the village has limited space at its water department. Plans to build the garage have been in the making for years, and after an exhaustive search, the town bought a 3.7-acre vacant wooded lot on Route 22, north of the main traffic light, next to Charlie’s Repair Shop. It bought the site through back taxes, for $6,687.12.

The project cost breakdown is as follows: $652,500 for a storage building; $76,000 for a fuel depot; $608,000 for a sand and salt shed; $2,868,000 for a garage and administrative building.

Then there are the engineering costs, which were the subject of a discussion at a Town Board meeting on Thursday, March 14.

“The highway garage is really the biggest project the town and village have going,” said Councilman Chris Kennan, diving right into the bids for engineering services. “It’s going to be a joint project. We received seven bids and I focused on the lowest three, from CPL Architecture, Engineering and Planning; Lamont Engineers; and T&B Engineering.”

CPL gave a bid of $70,000; Lamont gave a bid of $88,500; and T&B gave a bid of $128,000. 

Engineer Rich Rennia, of Rennia Engineering Design, PLLC, was asked to evaluate the three more competitive bids and guide the town in its decision. 

Kennan, who favored Lamont Engineers, said he also called town officials in other municipalities that have worked with Lamont to learn about the company’s performance and reliability. He said he liked that Lamont’s proposal was “very detailed.

“Lamont specifically provides a detailed schedule,” he said, “that gets the storage building and fuel station done this year. CPL did not much mention the town, the village or the garage [in its bid].”

Additionally, said Kennan, Lamont did a walk through of the site, which none of the other bidders did.

The councilman acknowledged the town has worked with CPL engineer Ray Jurkowski for many years. Jurkowski was with Morris Associates, which was absorbed by CPL, and has been involved with the highway project since the get-go. However, Kennan said, “based on the work that went into the bid documents and the work entailed, I would have to give my vote to Lamont.”

Councilman John Midwood agreed, and expressed his support for Lamont, despite that its bid was $18,500 more than CPL’s.

Town Supervisor George Kaye interjected that “the number one priority in the RFP [Request for Proposals] is price.” The RFP for engineering services was required by the county in order for the town to qualify for a shared services grant. Such monies are especially valuable as they can help defray the nearly $4 million project cost.

“That’s the item that affects the taxpayers the most,” he said, “and there’s better than a 26 percent difference between the lowest bidder, CPL, and the second lowest bidder.”

Kaye then added that Jurkowski and CPL “have the advantage.

“He’s responsible, timely and I’ve always felt we’ve gotten our money’s worth,” said the supervisor. “We could work well with him. Do we really want to switch engineers at this point, especially if it costs more money to do so? We asked Rich Rennia, and CPL was his first choice.”

Additionally, said Kaye, because North East received that $240,000 shared services grant from the county, it might reflect poorly on the town if it didn’t go with the lowest qualified bidder.

“Would we be considered fiscally responsible?” he asked. “Could we be counted on using their money wisely?”

The shared services grant was the largest such grant given to a municipality, and the board agreed it will probably have to go back to the county for more financial assistance in order to complete the project. 

“I’m for saving money and I’m concerned about getting further grants from the county,” said Councilman John Merwin, throwing his support behind CPL. “This is not the time to change direction.”

Councilman Ralph Fedele spoke next. He said he likes the features CPL included in its bid, like second floor square footage and a double door design on both the north and south side of the garage. He added that he’s already worked with Jurkowski on the project and didn’t want to change that relationship.

“My thoughts are one, cost, and I like the designs better,” Fedele said, “so I’m for CPL as well.”

Midwood mentioned that CPL lacked detail in its bid, and noted that it did not specify if subcontractors would be used. 

Kennan added that the design features Fedele liked could be replicated by Lamont.

That said, Kennan then noted that it’s important the bidder of choice be supported by the full board, and that “since it’s clear that CPL has the votes to be supported, I will vote for CPL, because having expressed my interest in Lamont I think it’s very important we work collaboratively and cooperatively with the firm we select.”

Kaye thanked Kennan for his support, and asked for a motion to accept CPL’s bid. The motion passed unanimously.