The Village of Clive council had to cut back on an infrastructure project after bids came in substantially above budget. The decision to cut back on the infrastructure project was made at the July 17 regular meeting of council.
Village Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Carla Kenney presented the results of a tender for backup generators the municipality was planning to purchase this summer.
However, the ambitious plan to have three back-up generators installed in the village hit a serious, inflation-linked snag noted the CAO.
During discussion Kenney noted bids on the three generators and the labour to install them came in well over budget.
“Tagish (Engineering) prepared and sent out requests for proposal for three projects, water treatment plant generator, fire hall generator, and village office generator,” stated Kenney in her memo to council. “Five to six companies looked at the work and two submissions were received.”
According to documents presented at the meeting Crossroad Energy Solutions, the low bidder, offered $22,450 for mobilization, $121,942 for the water treatment plant generator, $41,360 for the fire hall generator and $31,959 for the village office generator for a total of $217,711 plus tax.
Hillman Electric offered $13,000 for mobilization, $186,205 for the water treatment generator, $48,850 for the fire hall item and $54,500 for the village office generator for a total of $302,555 plus tax.
Kenney reminded councillors they had previously approved through resolution to budget $116,000 for the water treatment plant back-up generator, $9,000 for the fire hall back-up generator and $20,000 for the village office back-up generator for a total of $145,000, and it was noted the back-up generator project would be supported by other grant money. One of the bids was about double the village’s budget.
Back-up generators for the water treatment plant, fire hall, and village office would pay dividends in the event of a power outage or other emergency, as their absence could result in water contamination, delays or other problems for the fire department and issues coordinating emergency response, as the village office also doubles as the emergency coordination centre.
During discussion, Kenney stated the water treatment plant backup generator was the only item that had to be purchased, so the village staff approached the low bidder to ask for a revised offer based around only that one item.
After discussing with the contractor the village received an offer of $137,808 plus tax exclusively for the water treatment plant backup generator.
Kenney stated it would have been nice to have all three backup generators installed, but the village will have to make do without the fire hall and village office units at this time.
It was noted, however, village staff will continue investigating alternate solutions for backup generators at the two other locations.
Councillors approved by resolution offering the water treatment plant backup generator project to Crossroad Energy Solutions for $137,808 plus tax, noting $41,342 will come from the village’s water reserve and the rest from the provincial government’s Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) grant.
Stu Salkeld
Local Journalism Initiative reporter
ECA Review
