Project contracted awarded for $799K
By Joseph Goral
Staff Writer
jgoral@mihomepaper.com
OXFORD — The Village of Oxford’s new water main project on Moyers Street is expected to begin the week after the Fourth of July, Village Manager Joe Madore said during a council meeting on May 13.
Madore estimated the project, which is between Pontiac and Mechanic streets, will take six to seven weeks to complete. While the project will be almost identical to last year’s Park Street project, Madore said there is a “better approach” to Moyers Street’s project so that it is expected to take less time.
“It sounds like they want to hit it with a large amount of people to get it done sooner,” he said, later adding “we shouldn’t have been anywhere as near Halloween last year, and we should not be this year.”
Council members voted unanimously to award the project’s contract to Synergy Development Specialists, Inc. for $799,000.46. Council Member Maureen Helmuth was absent from the meeting.
According to village documents, Synergy’s bid was the lowest, 3.8% lower than the engineer’s cost opinion and more than 6% lower than the second bidder’s total.
Documents also show Synergy does not have a history of working on existing public streets, but other contractors that hire them “routinely have found them to be reliable and knowledgeable.” The company plans to team with local paving contractor BSI to complete the asphalt and concrete paving portions of the project.
The council also unanimously approved a construction engineering services proposal from ROWE Professional Services Company for $89,300. Madore was also authorized to sign the project contract once it is approved by village attorney Bob Davis.
The engineering services contract includes having on-site personnel, observation and more.
While Davis said he thinks the village can move forward, there are still changes he wants to see in the contract.
“It won’t be difficult,” Davis said. “I’ve talked to Paul (O’Meara, a senior project manager from ROWE) and I just have one or two sentences that I want to work through a little bit.”
Village documents show $480,168.77 may be used from the local street fund and $318,831.69 from the water fund to complete the project.