Heritage House Bids Way Over Estimate

April 25, 2013

The proposed Heritage House on Chardon Square is in trouble.

Chardon City Council was told during a special meeting Monday night the lowest bid for the building’s construction is nearly $170,000 over the $281,888 estimated building cost.

Unless local architect Hank Penttila and contractor Enzo Perfetto the lowest of three bidders can find ways to reduce Perfetto’s bid, Council President and Mayor Phil King said he intends to ask council for up to $4,500 to hire an estimator to re-examine the cost of the proposed 2,304-square-foot building.

Perfetto is president of Enzoco Homes, which bid $458,465.

He could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Other bids were $646,500 submitted by Cold Harbor Building Co., a Chardon firm, and $499,396 from the Welty Building Co. of Fairlawn.

“I haven’t had any other problems like this with other projects I’ve done,” Penttila said, adding he has had projects larger than the Heritage House come in under budget using the same or similar construction materials.

Penttila blamed the high bids on a one-week bidding timeline and contractors unfamiliarity with the “small nature” of the Heritage House project.

“I certainly didn’t expect this. It’s way over my estimate,” he said.

Regardless, the architect said he is confident he and Perfetto can come to an agreement through negotiations, which began Tuesday.

Under state law, the construction cost of the project cannot exceed more than 10 percent of the estimated cost. This would increase projected construction costs to a maximum of $310,000, although Penttila said Tuesday he wants to keep the cost as close to his $281,888 estimate as possible.

“We’ve got to get it underneath that $310,000 umbrella for council to accept a bid,” Penttila said. “I am confident we can do that. We just have to find the right people that want to participate and donate back to the community.”

Donations of building materials and labor are being sought in an effort to keep the total cost of the project under $340,000, which includes planning, architectural and other non-construction services.

The original total cost of the Heritage House was estimated at more than $400,000 when it was conceived about five years ago.

Those costs were cut to $340,000 last year and the size of the project scaled down by several hundred square feet because of difficulties in raising money for the privately funded project.

Fundraising was reinvigorated when city council decided to donate $81,000 toward the project.

That donation used money forfeited by contractors who failed to complete building projects for which they had paid permit fees.

Given the importance of the project, King said he wants Penttila to report on the status of his talks with Perfetto at a special May 22 council meeting.

Council would have the option of authorizing the new estimate pending the outcome of Penttila’s report, he said.

The Heritage House is to replace the 50-year-old log cabin on Chardon Square.

Demolition of the log cabin was to begin following this week’s Geauga County Maple Festival using a $14,150 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) the county commissioners awarded earlier this month.

Based on conversations with county officials, however, City Manager Randy Sharpe said the demolition could be delayed 60 days without risk of losing the grant.

This also would give Penttila and Perfetto time to work out a bid agreement.

The architect said he feels certain the postponement would not delay completion of the Heritage House by this November, when construction is to be finished.

This is because the Heritage House’s projected building time should not take as long as planned once the construction bid difficulties are resolved, Penttila said.

Also at Monday’s meeting, the Chardon Square Association (CSA) donated $2,500 for the design of the Heritage House kitchen.

The kitchen would be used for various association activities throughout the year, CSA President Tom Bryant said.

Although the association previously has opposed placement of Heritage House on the square, Byrant said its members are “pragmatic” about its existence, given that fact the CSA will hold its regular meetings in the building.

In addition to the Heritage House project, council also decided to proceed with a mandatory sidewalk repair program, the approval of which was delayed from an April 11 meeting.

Council members Deborah Reiter, Mitch Hewitt and Dan Meleski had requested additional time to consider the program and its cost to homeowners and businesses who would responsible for repairing existing bad sidewalks.

Construction of additional sidewalks in neighborhoods where none exist is another project for council to consider in the future, King said.

The proposal is an effort to restart a long-standing sidewalk maintenance program enacted by ordinance nearly 30 years ago, but not strictly enforced.

Public Works Director Paul Hornyak said the repair program was “revitalized” in 1991, but hasn’t been enforced for the last 10 years.

Under council’s new policy, which Hornyak recommended, city staff will be required to inspect one of eight neighborhoods each June to determine where sidewalk repairs are necessary, beginning with uptown Chardon in 2014.

In September, property owners in the inspected neighborhood will be sent letters notifying them of the need for sidewalk repairs. They will be given nine months to make them.

After considerable discussion Monday, council agreed to implement the mandatory repair program with the following provisions:

Businesses and residents will have nine months to make repair themselves or hire a contractor.

If they do not, the city would make the repairs, provided the business or resident agree to make full payment within 30 days, or be assessed for the work over two years.

The assessments would be placed on the property taxes bill. In such a case, Geauga County Auditor Frank Gliha said Ohio law requires an additional 4 percent administrative fee be tacked on.

If sidewalk repairs exceed $1,500, financially burdened property owners will be given a total of five years to make the needed repairs.

The time includes one year of no assessment following receipt of a city sidewalk deficiency notice and up to four years of assessment by the county auditor’s office.

Residents can ask for a second examination of their sidewalk and appeal their assessed repair costs to city council’s Service Committee.

In other business, council amended an ordinance passed April 11 giving about two dozen city employees a 3 percent retroactive annual raise. The amendment corrects a typographical error in the original ordinance and makes the raises effective as of Jan. 4, 2013.