Johnson Acres bid comes in high

By Brent Shrum, Western News Reporter

A planned sewer and water project for Libby¹s Johnson Acres neighborhood may be delayed again after bids came in last week higher than expected.

The low bid for the project, from Noble Excavating of Libby, was $1.7 million. The engineer¹s estimate was $1.2 million.

Two other bids were submitted. Smith Contracting of Butte bid $1.97 million, and Western Municipal Construction of Billings bid $2.52 million.

³At this point we don¹t feel like we can hit that 1.7,² Mayor Tony Berget said.

With input from attorney Scott Spencer, Noble Excavating will be given an opportunity to submit a revised bid based on some changes to the project specifications. Spencer advised the city council that some requirements — like insistence on hiring a licensed landscape architect and a licensed arborist — can be relaxed without having to advertise for new bids, Berget said.

The current project guidelines call for work to start by July 15 and be completed within 120 days. Noble told the city a significant price drop could be realized if the project could be postponed until next spring, but that would require the city to seek new bids, Berget said.

Berget said the project will probably be delayed until spring unless Noble is able to bring the price down closer to the estimate.

The project to extend sewer service to Johnson Acres and replace too-small water mains in the area was initially planned for last summer, but a variety of complications led to delays. When it became too late to move ahead with the project last year, plans were to seek bids in January for work to start in the spring, but more delays were encountered, Berget said.

Seeking bids in mid-summer likely increased the cost, Berget said.

³I was concerned about that from day one,² he said.

If the job is postponed again, the city will do what it can to help Johnson Acres residents with septic tank problems in the interim, Berget said. He said he will recommend that the council hold a meeting with area residents to explain the situation.

³We¹ll just kind of talk to them and tell them what¹s up and what¹s going on and why we feel we can¹t continue at this point,² he said.