More Problems With Highway Garage Bids
By Doug La Rocque
In June the Hoosick Falls Village Board rebid the Plumbing and HVAC contracts for the construction of the new Highway Garage after it was learned that the Vermont firm that had won the previous bid was not licensed to do business in New York State. The Trustees had planned to award those two bids at their meeting on Tuesday, July 9. When the bids came back, the Board found the new bids were $70,000 higher than anticipated, which raised the total cost of the project to $1.43 million.
The Village has a $1.1 million NYS grant, and had found enough money in the Highway Department Budget to cover the other costs, before the new bid results were announced.
After a lot of discussion the Board decided to table awarding the two bids, to determine if there might be changes made that could reduce the unanticipated expenses.
Trustee Craig Pine expressed his frustration with MRB Engineering, the company hired to oversee the project. The first time the Board tried to award all four bids (general construction and electrical being the other two), they had to wait because it was determined MRB had not yet properly vetted the bidders. When they were awarded at a special meeting, the inability of the plumbing and HVAC contractor to work in New York was not pre-determined. Now the latest cost over run means at least another month delay in the start of construction. Trustee Brian Bushner echoed Trustee Pine’s concerns, saying, he “was getting a little sick of it.” The Board in general asked its attorney, Andy Gilchrist, to look into any possible legal recourse they might have.
Greenway Problems
The new Highway Garage is not the only construction project to experience some bumps in the road. The recent work on the northern section of the Greenway Trail has some ups and downs as well, in fact, according to Trustee Bushner, a lot of them. He stated his complete dissatisfaction with the work that was thought to have been completed, noting the mud is so deep in some spots as to be impassable, and that the fabric laid under the base material is coming through in many instances. No final bill for the work has been received yet, and the Board as a whole indicated its intention not to pay any further bills until the work is deemed satisfactory.
Recycling Costs
As many other municipalities have found out recently, trash haulers are no longer taking recyclables such as plastic and glass free of charge. Trustee Ben Patton, who is the Board’s representative on the Eastern Rensselaer County Solid Waste Authority, reported they have been charged $1,000 for such pickups from the village owned landfill for the first third of the year. That would mean an added $3,000 in expenses over the long term. Trustee Kevin O’Malley also said that since most Village residents have their recyclables picked up as part of the house to house refuse service, he felt a lot of the material was actually coming from Town of Hoosick residents, who live outside the Village.
The Board was looking at imposing a new fee structure to cover the added costs, but after speaking with Hoosick Town Supervisor Mark Surdam, decided to wait a month to see what other solutions might be possible.
The Full Report
Because of space considerations with our graduation issue this week, the full report on the Village Board meeting will appear in next week’s edition.