Saying the $2.9 million bid for library construction may be the best price the town will see in the foreseeable future, Town Administrator Anthony Iacono said council members are considering awarding the bid in early November.
The town received 19 bids ranging front $2.9 million to $4.5 million on Sept. 16 for the construction of the new library. “Frank Leanza [the town attorney] told us the low bid is a responsible bid,” said Mayor Dennis Elwell. “Now it is simply a matter of doing a background check on the contractor and making sure the money is in place.”
If everything works out, Elwell said, the town could anticipate awarding the contract, then breaking ground on the library as early as December.
Iacono said the final decision will not likely be made until the first week in November, when the town’s capital bonding will clear its final hurtles.
At the Oct. 10 meeting, the Town Council increased a proposed capital improvement bond ordinance by $300,000 in order to handle the unexpected higher cost. The increase brings the bond up to $1.5 million, and the portion dedicated to partially cover library construction to $800,000. The ordinance was amended to include $838,500 of money put towards the project by the library.
The town bonded for the purchase of the land at 1377 Paterson Plank Road two years ago. After buying the land, the town had about $1.4 million left. Combining this with the $865,000 the library trustees had set aside, town officials hoped the library could be constructed for about $2.5 million.
Architect John Capazzi, who presented the original plans to the library trustees in January, spent the summer going over detailed changes in the interior and exterior construction, estimating the price would be about $3 million. Town officials had hoped that the cost would come in well below that, though in August they set aside an additional $500,000 in capital outlay as insurance against a higher-than-expected cost.
“We had hoped to get a bid between $2.5 million and $3 million,” Iacono said. “While it is possible for us to accept the low bid, if that bid is not acceptable, we can’t afford the next bid at $3.1 million. We would have to go out and re-bid the project.”
Last chance for the bids to be this cheap
Emara Constructing Company of Piscataway proposed the low bid at $2.9 million, and Iacono said the town could be faced with its last chance to get the library constructed that cheaply.
“When we started talking with the experts, they all told us that we wouldn’t get a building of 18,000 square feet built for less than $3 million without making major changes,” Iacono said. “All except this one bid came out between $3 million and $4.5 million. This may be the only shot we get to build this library at this low a price.”
Due to the rising costs and a good economy, re-bidding the project could mean even higher bids the next time, as well as a significant delay in beginning the project.
Councilman John Bueckner, however, raised questions at the Oct. 10 meeting, and said the council needed to meet with the architect to determine what cuts could be made to the project in order to reduce the cost.
Elwell said the bids were based on specific specification, and a reduction to the library could only be done if the bids are rejected.
“We only have a certain number of days before we have to award or reject the bids,” Elwell said. “We can’t sit on this for weeks waiting for additional information.”
Checking the references
Iacono believes the library can be built for $2.9 million and would not have to drastically cut the size. He said the town is currently checking the Emara’s references and bonds.
Emara Constructing Company of Piscataway recently built a community center in Colts Neck for about $1.3 million, Iacono said.
“We are going down there to look at the construction,” he said. “It seems that if they could build that, they can build a library for $2.9 million.”
Iacono said the construction firm is still a relatively small company and hungry for business, accounting for its low bid. “This contractor relatively small, but big enough to do the job,” Iacono said.
Emara has also recently been awarded a contract to renovate the police station in South River, N.J., for a fee of about $2.3 million, and has taken on the $627,000 construction of a Veteran’s Group home in Hamilton Township.
“We want to look at what work the company has done, how much it has completed and whether or not there have been problems with past work,” Elwell said.
Within the money set aside for the project, Elwell said, the town can hire a construction manager to look over the project as it is ongoing.
“We’ll likely be sending out Requests for Proposals soon,” Elwell said, noting that even with the higher than expected bid, the project still comes in cheaper than if the town had constructed a fire house on that sight as originally proposed.