By Elizabeth Lowe
Staff writer
Goodrich — Bids for the Goodrich Municipal Complex were reviewed Oct. 1, but instead of breaking ground, officials are back to the drawing board to cut costs.
The village is authorized through the United State Department of Agriculture Rural Development to spend $1.2 million for construction of the DPW complex and office building. Goodrich Village Administrator Jakki Sidge, however, “hopes to see the figures come in around $950,000,” she said.
“There are only so many funds that can be allocated,” Sidge said. “It depends on the governor and what she’s cutting…by the time the state budget is done it could have drastic effects on our budget.”
Of the 15 bids received, the three low bidders will be invited to complete a “post-bid addendum” based on multiple cost saving revisions to the interior and exterior of the buildings.
Changes to the proposed DPW complex, which includes a DPW building and salt barn, could include deletion of interior wall metal panels, mezzanine plywood sheathing, and a monorail electric hoist; eliminating metal panels from the salt barn roof joist’s underside as well as metal soffit panels, and deleting one of three bays in the salt barn.
In addition, cuts could include deleting the gypsum ceiling from the DPW building’s mechanical room, deleting water hose bibbs and related piping, and eliminating the planned emergency generator, instead wiring the building to enable a portable generator to be available for limited power usage.
A $2,100 light fixture may also be cut from the plan, along with decreasing an eight-inch concrete slab to a six-inch depth, deleting the flagpole, exterior sign, interior signage, a special concrete mixture, and deleting a new damp-proofing process that would have been applied to the village office walls.
Other proposed changes include a thinner asphalt surface, reducing the planned limestone work area, changing a concrete work area to limestone, eliminating the sidewalk, and deleting landscaping trees from the plan.
The cuts are projected to shave approximately $120,000 off the previous total projected cost of more than $1,400,000 of the project, including contingency funds.
The figures are merely speculative, stressed Sidge, who has been working with Wade-Trim, Inc. and THA Architects and Engineers of Flint to cut costs.
Building in the spring, and donations from local businesses could also keep costs down. Ken’s Redi-Mix Inc. already plans to donate crushed concrete for a portion of the project.
The post-bid addendum figures should be in and ready to present at the Nov. 10 Goodrich Village Council meeting.
The Village of Goodrich currently rents its building, and staff has outgrown the office space. Building the complex would also allow for on-site storage, allow for providing better service to village residents, and free up the village park for needed storage, said Sidge.