Bids again come in too high for Phoenixville streetscaping project

PHOENIXVILLE >> For the second time, the borough council unanimously rejected all bids that came in for the Main Street streetscaping project approved at the end of last year.

The project for which the bids went out calls for the elimination of 12 parking spaces between Bridge and Hall streets on Main Street as well as the expansion of sidewalks to promote walkability in that section of town.

“We allowed those bids to be out for well over a month, basically Aug. 11 through Sept. 19,” Borough Manager Jean Krack said. “Again, although 50 contractors registered, only two firms provided bid proposals. They were way above the finances available to us.”

Krack’s words were almost a direct repeat of what he told council in July after the first round of bidding closed when, once again, 50 firms registered but only two entered bids.

Cost was the issue for which Krack recommended the bids be rejected then, too. As a result, they refined the project to bring down the prices.

That refining apparently did not produce the desired results.

“We scaled it down quite a bit and the numbers still came in way higher than what our expectations were,” Krack told The Mercury. “That’s frustrating. We did exactly what you would think we would do, we scaled back the project, we looked at the numbers, and when they’re so far out of line, based on a second look, that tells me that there’s some gouging by contractors at this time of year. We’re not going to play that game.”

“We’ve seen a trend where infrastructure programs have exponentially increased, they’ve shown cost increases, that engineers and experts around the area can’t understand where these inflated prices are coming from,” he said.

Krack told council that he believes construction companies hit hard by the recession are now putting in “ridiculously high bids” on municipal projects throughout the county.

“It’s unfortunate but it is real,” he said.

Effectively, the project is on hold.

“In this instance, the funding we have from the county would not support anything (other) than a less-than-desirable product for the Main Street program,” Krack said.

Moving forward after the unsuccessful bidding project, Krack said he’ll work with Chester County’s Department of Community Development to form “some sort of game plan” for grants the borough received toward the project.

There is the potential to apply for more or greater grants to get the project put together.

Source: Times Herald