While work on Morford Street has stopped, McMinnville officials have been presented with some good news about North Chancery Street.
It has been a long process for such a short stretch of road, but the end is in sight, says city administrator David Rutherford.
“I spoke with the engineer this morning,” Rutherford said. “You will have a bid to accept on June 14. They are anticipating a 30-day turnaround, at best.”
“Is that from start or finish?” asked Vice Mayor Everett Brock.
Rutherford responded, “Finish.”
“So, 30 days from start to finish,” said Brock.
To clarify what could have been disbelief or a failure to communicate, Rutherford added, “Thirty days from the 14th of June, when we meet, it will be paved.”
The city is in the process of taking bids for the work after canceling its contract with Highways Inc. Originally, the contract between the two was to widen and pave the road for $998,000. A change order reduced the scope of the work to paving only and Highways Inc. presented a cost for that work. However, officials chose to re-bid the project.
Prompting the decision was information presented to them by consulting engineer Anthony Pelham. He reviewed the adjusted price and determined it was too high for just paving two lanes.
“It is more than $20,000 higher than it should be,” he said. “I walked APAC through the job and the numbers between the two were substantially more than $20,000 difference.”
The exact price submitted by Highways Inc. after the change order was withheld by Pelham to prevent an unfair bidding situation if officials chose to not accept the price and re-bid.
Bids received during the re-bidding process will be presented to officials June 14. After choosing the “lowest, but best” as required by law and awarding the contract, the city’s engineers believe paving will be finished in a month.
If the 30-day turnaround estimate is accurate, the street will be paved by July 14 — nine months after officials first voted to widen in October 2010.