The City of Vernon is scrambling after plans for road reconstruction fell apart. The city awarded a contract for upgrades to 24th Avenue, from 18th to 23rd streets, in early July but two weeks ago, the successful bidder decided not to sign the contract, bringing looming construction to a halt. “Some of the people here (at city hall) have never been in a position like this before. It’s definitely unprecedented,” said Mark Dowhaniuk, infrastructure engineer. The city was so confident the work was proceeding that materials were delivered to the site. Notification letters were also sent out to nearby residents indicating that the work would be beginning tentatively at the end of July. It’s not known exactly why the contractor may have withdrawn his services. “They possibly weren’t comfortable with the pricing they put in,” said Dowhaniuk.
City staff are now trying to determine how to keep the project on track. “We could be getting into issues of reducing the scope of the work, asking council for more money or retendering next year,” said Dowhaniuk. Discussions are now underway with the next, and only other bidder, but that bid was more than the $1.2 million budget for water, sanitary and storm mains, curb, gutters, sidewalks, the road surface and street light. It was expected that the work would be completed by Oct. 29, but it’s now not known if construction will actually take place this year. “It’s a pretty quiet residential road and pushing it back a year won’t necessarily hurt city objectives,” said Dowhaniuk.
The city will inform residents in the project area about the delays through a letter, and another letter will be sent out once a course of action has been determined. City bylaws call for penalties for not signing contractors, and lawyers are handling the matter between the city and the company whose bid was accepted.
No comments:
Post a Comment