FORESTERS FALLS — A portion of Grants Settlement Road, the 2.7 kilometres from Foresters Falls Road to Rafting Road, was to be reconstructed this year, but due to the world freestyle kayak event, that work will be put off until next year.
Instead, council agreed to tender the resurfacing of Magnesium Road.
During last week’s public works committee meeting the tender for Grants Settlement Road was to be awarded to Greenwood Paving for just under $186,000.
However, by meeting’s end the motion was withdrawn and a motion to tender double surface treatment for Magnesium Road was passed and recommended to council. Council then passed this motion at the council meeting held later that evening.
During the public works committee meeting, public works manager Bill Misener advised the work on Grants Settlement Road couldn’t be done until after Sept. 6, which could mean it may be not get done until late fall.
“Do you want to do the work after the rafting thing or do you want to put it off until next year,” he questioned council.
The work is to be completed by Oct. 15, he added.
Councillor Daryl McLaughlin felt it would be too late to reconstruct the road that late in the season, noting a finish date of Oct. 15 could mean as late as Nov. 1.
However, he suggested work could be done on the road in preparation for a spring double surface treatment.
“Let’s do our work, leave as gravel until spring and at that time put out another tender and hope it comes in at the same price or close to it,” he said.
Mr. Misener and Mayor Hal Johnson both agreed that road is too busy to leave as a gravel road until the spring.
Mayor Johnson suggested re-tendering the job in the spring, since the money will be there for the job next year and hopefully get it done before the rafting companies get busy.
Councillor Chris Olmstead questioned if there could be another project that could be completed this year with that money.
However, Coun. McLaughlin noted if Grants Settlement Road can’t be done until late in the fall, then it would be too late to do any other road.
“I thought it was our decision to wait until after the world championships were over to have the work done,” Coun. Olmstead questioned.
Mr. Misener said yes, but noted, it also worked into the contractor’s schedule, since the company is booked up until about Sept. 15.
However, it may be too late in the season to ask for another road to be double surface treatment, Mr. Misener said.
Mayor Johnson noted Tripp Road (Magnesium Road) is ready to be done now. It’s 3.4 kilometres and could be done in a day, he noted.
And, since Grants Settlement Road surfacing is put off until next spring, he suggested the township employees replace the culverts on that road in preparation of work next year.
Coun. McLaughlin agreed and stated there is no need to do any tendering, because it’s just changing the location of the double surface treatment.
Magnesium Road has been in a gravel state for at least three years, Mr. Misener said. It would be great if the job could be completed by Sept. 20, he added.
Mayor Johnson said he will talk to the people at Greenwood Construction, since he knows them, and see if they could do the job done by the end of August.
“Sometimes if he can get pushed, he can get it done, and sometimes they’ll even work Saturday,” he added. “It’s either that (getting it done earlier) or nothing.”
However, Reeve Terry Millar wasn’t comfortable with that decision.
What if the job would be less than what the tender is awarded for, he questioned.
“How quick can we get a new quote back on the work proposed,” he questioned. “It just seems like a blank cheque when you say let’s take that $185(000) and spend it over here.
“I think they should have to requote that job,” Reeve Millar added.
He explained that if a contractor knew there was up to $185,000 to spend, it’s possible, that’s the price he may quote.
“That’s my only concern,” he said.
While Mayor Johnson was hoping to email the tender document out, Mr. Misener said due to the township’s spending bylaw it has to go out to public tender in the papers.
Chief Administrative Officer Christine FitzSimons said the scope of the work is being changed, so the job would have be tendered.
“You are leaving yourself open to difficulties because you are not awarding the work that was tendered.”
She said, “To be transparent and to be clear” the Magnesium Road job has to be tendered. She noted it’s not possible to award anything that wasn’t in the scope of work. Once the scope of work is out there in a tender, that’s what you asked for a bid on, she said.
“If you are going to change that, then you scrap this and you go again with a clearly defined scope of work,” CAO FitzSimons said.
While Mayor Johnson was hopeful of a turnaround time of three or four days, which would mean the job could be done by the end of August, Mr. Misener said the tender has to be published in the local papers, which means the turnaround will be more than just three or four days.
The original motion to award the tender to Greenwood Construction was withdrawn.
Council agreed to the recommendation that it tender the job for double surface treatment to Magnesium Road. The deadline for the tender is Monday, Aug. 17.
In other tender news, GP Splinter was awarded the tender for gravel crushing. The cost is $58,308 for 20,000 tonne from two different locations.
“We used Splinter last year and they did an excellent job for us,” Mr. Misener said.
