Burton Village Council Debates Over Rapids Road Bid
"You can't be changing the bid amount, because there's a perception that you're doing that just to get the job." – Mayor Nick Fischbach
After a lengthy discussion, Burton Village Council approved a bid last Monday from Ronyak Brothers Paving Co. for improvements to Rapids Road on the west end of the village.
Council voted 3-2, with President Linda Swaney and members Charles “Skip” Boehnlein and Brian Johnston voting for the issue at the Aug. 12 council committee meeting.
Council members Dianne Lillibridge and Jeff Coleman voted against it and alleged a math error may create a false perception of how the process worked.
Council member Craig Ronyak abstained due to being a member of Ronyak Bros. Paving., based in Burton Township.
Engineer Chad Eldridge of Hess & Associates Engineering of Newbury Township discussed the project and the bidding process. Ronyak Bros.’ $757,312.50 bid was the only one that came in for the Rapids Road project.
Per state law, a bid that comes in on a project must be no more than 10 percent over the engineer’s original estimated cost. Otherwise, the project must be re-bid at a later date, Fiscal Officer Chris Paquette said.
“Do we avoid it now or re-bid in the spring? There was only one bid,” Mayor Nick Fischbach said.
The mayor said the board has one year from the time the bids come in to award the project to the winning contractor. In this case, the Ronyak bid came in last month.
Eldridge said the original bid had a mathematical error, which incorrectly stated the bid price as $767,312.50. Village Engineer George “Chip” Hess reviewed the original bid figures and the company corrected the figures.
“Ronyak’s bid came in at 8.9 percent over the original estimate,” Eldridge said.
However, Paquette said he felt the project should be re-bid, as he claimed the bid was 10 percent over the original estimate.
Eldridge said Hess talked to Ronyak Bros. and the company told him they would be able to do the project for the correctly adjusted price, not the original, incorrect price.
Fischbach said he wasn’t sure why other companies did not bid on the project.
“You can’t be changing the bid amount, because there’s a perception that you’re doing that just to get the job,” the mayor said. “I don’t want people perceiving that we’re not doing this right.”
He cited an example where Chardon Township asked legal counsel about whether or not to re-bid the job.
In the Chardon example, a Colburn Road project was re-bid because the bid came in at more than 10 percent over the original engineering estimate, too high to qualify.
Eldridge told the village timing was essential in making a decision. If the village waits until Spring 2014 to re-bid the project, materials costs may go up.
“But things like oil may go down,” Coleman said. “You never know. You roll the dice and re-bid the project. Maybe three companies bid next year.”
Johnston asked what the problem was.
“If they corrected it to make it appropriate, then what’s the problem?” he asked.
Ronyak spoke up and said nobody changed the bid, but rather just corrected an incorrect figure.
When council members asked why nobody else bid on the project, he said he didn’t know.
However, he said most companies may not be able to bid on a large project like Rapids Road as they are already occupied with other projects.
Eldridge said his company contacted local contractors to generate interest. Hess Engineering even sold bid books and “did its due diligence” to make sure companies were interested.
The engineer said if council waits until next spring, there is a chance “you could get a company you don’t want to work with.”
“Also, if we wait, the road conditions could change in the meantime,” Eldridge added.
Swaney asked Eldridge if it was standard practice for engineers to review all bids for mathematical errors. Eldridge confirmed it was the normal practice.
Fischbach asked why nobody caught the error earlier. Ronyak cited human error.
“It happens,” Ronyak said.
Fischbach added five other companies took out applications for the bidding process, but did not turn in their bids by the deadline.
Coleman made a motion to rescind the bid and re-bid the project next spring, but it failed, 3-2, with Johnston, Swaney and Boehnlein voting against his measure.
Paquette asked somebody to pass a motion to simply accept the corrected bid, the converse wording of Coleman’s proposal.
On the subsequent motion, the three council members voted to approve the bid and the motion passed.
In other news, council passed a motion to pay A&A Safety, Inc., of Cleveland, $1,905.10 to install 27 high-visibility school zone signs in the village.
It then passed a motion to pay Signal Service Company of Cleveland to program and install four flashing light-based signs at $500 a piece, for a $2,000 total cost.
The village will also save money by having in-house workers pour footers for the signs, rather than having an outside company perform the duty for more money, Police Chief Rick Smigelski said.
The signs are expected to be up by Friday, he added.
