Ortonville – When it came time to paying the final Mill Street repaving bill Village Council member Harold Batten was outraged and voted against paying it.
‘That amount is a full third more than the bid,? said Batten, ‘and that’s quite an overrun.?
The contractor’s final bill was almost $23,000 more than their original bid of $69,871, however, not because of a mis-bid by Florence Cement Company, according to village contracted engineer Amy Gilson of Rowe Engineering.
‘Basically, the project ran only $1,000 over the total project estimate,? Gilson told the council, adding that the original estimate Rowe gave was $91,171.
‘I don’t disagree that it’s a large increase,? said Gilson, ‘but you need to keep in mind the contractor bid ($69,871) was very low.?
Gilson continued to explain that the extended amount was due to additional work requested by village officials, as well as several unforeseen problems that came along with repaving the 140 year old street.
‘We did pavement core samples,? said Gilson ‘But those plugs are just a snapshot in time. In an older job like this you never know what you’ll run into.?
What they ran into were stretches of disintegrating concrete base that needed to be reinforced with a finer grade of fill than originally planned.
The original project was to resurface Mill Street from Church Street to almost 50 feet short of M-15. Contractors found, however, that the intersection up to M-15 had an unstable base, prompting village officials to approve extending the repair and resurfacing up to M-15.
‘Kay Green (president pro-tem), Paul Zelenak and I were together at the Michigan Municipal League conference when Amy called us about the repairs,? said Sue Bess. ‘We talked about it then and it was a decision I felt should be made when the equipment was there to do it,? said Bess.
Within that project the traffic light pressure pad wires were torn out and had to be replaced.
‘Resurfacing over the unraveling base just wouldn’t have worked,? said Gilson.
Additionally, the contractors found portions of the street base had an additional lane at one point, so the curb areas needed additional buildup in order to maintain road crown integrity.
‘That’s what happens when you do a job and don’t know what’s underneath it,? Gilson said.
‘I could have built it as planned and we wouldn’t have the best job.?
In June when council awarded the almost $69,000 bid to Florence Cement, Village Manager Paul Zelenak told council to replace all of Mill Street would cost nearly $100,000. Of that an estimated $75,000 will go toward paving and the remainder would cover engineering costs, striping, and parking allocations. The additional $22,816.85 for extended work and repairs fell within that projection.
‘We, and the contractors, need an answer (right away) to continue and to do it right and while the equipment was there,? Zelenak continued.
‘Our engineers recommended the additional repairs so that we have a quality road that will last.?
‘The contractor did what we asked them to do, had we not done that the deterioration process would have accelerated,? Zelenak said.
Bess reminded council that it is sometimes the charge of the village president and manager to make decisions in a heartbeat, confirming that is what was done to have the road fixed properly.
Batten was the sole ‘nay? vote out of seven to pay the paving bill.