Citing the “need for speed,” the Genesee County Legislature at a special meeting this afternoon approved a resolution to accept a pair of bids for the construction of a new water pump station along Golden Road in the Town of Chili to advance Phase 2 of the Countywide Water Project.
Legislators awarded the general construction contract to C.P. Ward, Inc., of Scottsville, for an amount not to exceed $2,825,533, and the electrical construction contract to Kaplan-Schmidt Electric, Inc., of Rochester, for an amount not to exceed $595,000.
The $3,420,533 total will be funded from bonds issued by the Monroe County Water Authority for the Phase 2 construction.
Prior to voting, County Highway Superintendent Tim Hens stressed that timing was the major factor in calling the meeting outside of the board’s normal schedule,
“The biggest concern is the need for speed, obviously, with the supply chain disruptions we’re seeing with COVID and long lead times, especially on things such as motor controls and pumps,” he said. “So, we want to give contractors the most time as possible to get the project completed.”
Hens said the completion date in the contract is June 1, 2022, but it could take up to eight months to receive the pumps. Thus, the importance of awarding the contracts to get materials ordered while the building is being erected.
He also pointed out that the cost is about $600,000 more than expected, but not as much as it could have been when factoring in the increased costs due to COVID.
“The original total bid package for the general and the electrical when we were designing this about two years ago was around $2.8 million,” he said. “With what we’ve seen with COVID bidding recently, I was really nervous that we would be up around $4 million. So, I’m actually very pleased that are inflation was somewhat muted.”
