Reprint from the Progress Times - May 23, 2008
©Progress Times 2008 - All Rights Reserved

Mayor objects to low bidder for lift station

 

By Kathy Olivarez

Mayor Beto Salinas objected to awarding the contract for the North Bryan lift station to the low bidder, R.P. Constructors of New Braunfels, because they have not yet completed the South Bryan lift station project. As a result Mission City Council did not accept the low bid at the May 19 city council meeting.

The bid, if awarded would have been for $798,000, which was the base bid plus one alternate. Salinas objected to the slow completion of the South Bryan lift station project in the last council meeting but was told that the delay was because of a special filter requested by the city, which had not yet been received from overseas.

The mayor said it would not be in the best interest of the city to award the company another project when their initial project had not yet been completed. He recommended the contract be awarded to the second bidder, McAllen Construction, with a bid of $814,500 plus an alternate bid of $3,500 for a total of $818,000.

Attorney David Guerra said that if the mayor did not want to award the bid to the lowest bidder, a hearing would need to be held to give the lowest bidder a chance to object to the move. The hearing was set for the May 26 council meeting.

A change order for the Yardline Sewer Project, Phase III, was approved in the amount of $129,415 by a vote of four to one.

In November 2007, the council awarded the third phase of the Yardline Sewer Project in conjunction with EDAP and ORCA grant funding to Asago Construction in the amount of $541,485, which was to fund the remediation of septic tanks at 576 homes. The contract was bid with language saying the contractor would be paid per septic tank remediated for homes with more than one septic tank. Initial cost estimates covered remediation of one septic tank per home.

An additional 347 septic tanks have been found. The cost of remediating these tanks would be $154,415. However, there is a change order that decreased the project costs by $25,000. The final cost of the change order for remediation of the additional tanks was $129,415.

 Cris Duque, grants administrator for the city, told the council there was sufficient funding to cover the additional cost.

Councilman Leo Olivarez objected to the additional cost, saying it was unfair to charge more for two little septic tanks than for one large septic tank.

After discussion, the city council approved the change order by a vote of four to one.

The council formally approved institution of annexation proceedings for two tracts of land. Tract A includes Valley Memorial Gardens West Subdivision, which includes Section E-2B of Valley Memorial Gardens West.

Tract B includes all of lots 125, 126, 135, 136, 145, 146 of John H. Shary Subdivision including perimeter streets and right of way. It will square off an area which includes McManus Subdivision, which is already in the city. The site is bounded by Colorado Street on the north, Sharyland Road on the west, and Taylor Road on the east, and the northern edge of Riverside Estates at Sharyland in the south.

The city was authorized to rescind the bid for Housing Assistance Program, Phase 07-III for one applicant who it was determined exceeded the limited resource limit.

In another case where the council took no action, staff recommended that based on family size, the reconstruction be for a two bedroom home instead of three bedrooms as initially planned.

The council was told that a special tribute to Mission’s four fallen soldiers from current conflicts would be held on Memorial Day at Leo Pena "La Plazita" Park in downtown Mission at 10:30 a.m.