Oxford Township officials last week awarded a $257,990 contract to F Allied Construction to resurface a badly-battered stretch of Pontiac Rd.

The Clarkston-based company was one of four bidders for the project, which involves milling and overlaying approximately 2,600 feet of Pontiac Rd. from the village limits – located between the Oxford Public Library and Oxford Elementary School – to W. Drahner Rd.

Repairs to damaged pavement, ditching/drainage improvements and storm sewer improvements are included in the project as well.

Pavex Corporation, based in Trenton, submitted the lowest bid, which was $253,385. The other two bids were submitted by Florence Cement Company ($274,430) and T.G. Priehs ($286,542).

Township engineer Jim Sharpe recommended F Allied Construction to the board after looking into Pavex’s previous work record. In a May 4 memo to the township, Sharpe, president of the Oxford-based Sharpe Engineering, stated the references provided by Pavex “generally indicated that the work performed under contract was ultimately completed satisfactorily.”

“However, a couple of the references did note that there were issues with the timing to begin the project, organization of the project and traffic control,” he wrote.

In addition to these references, Sharpe “spoke with several municipal entities” that had worked with Pavex.

“Many of these entities were not satisfied with the results of their particular Pavex project for various reasons,” the engineer wrote.

Although F Allied Construction’s bid was $4,605 more than Pavex, Sharpe’s research into the company’s work yielded better results.

“The references provided extremely positive responses, indicated that the work performed under contract was completed to the expectations, and that they would recommend the contractor again should they be the low bidder on another one of their projects,” he wrote.

Sharpe went on to write, “F Allied has previously worked for Oxford Township on safety path repairs and expansions, and the results of those projects have been satisfactory. Additionally, F Allied has performed paving work on private development projects in the township and to our knowledge there have not been any problems with the pavement that was installed.”

Back in February, the township board voted 6-1 to transfer $400,000 from the general fund reserves (i.e. fund balance) to the highway roads fund in order to pay for the Pontiac Rd. project.

The plan is to have the township front the money to get the work done this year, then be reimbursed over time by Oakland County’s Tri-Party Program, which will ultimately cover two-thirds of the total cost.