Belleville Council hopes to make seawall decision at May 21 meeting

Building Official Rick Rutherford gave a report to the Belleville City Council on Monday, May 7, concerning a bid recommendation for repair of the seawall next to Doane’s Landing Park.
He was directed to get more information on the low bidder, to talk to the next-lowest bidder about his proposed cost-saving ideas, and bring the council a proposal on how to pay for the work at the council’s next meeting on May 21.
Rutherford said he sent the three bids received by the city to the engineer who designed the replacement seawall to ask for his recommendation.
C&R Lakeside Landscaping was the low bidder at $295,000 and it would use a barge to do the work, which McDowel & Associates engineer Dan Kaniarz said he thought was needed.
But, Kaniarz said the address for them is CT Concepts with Chris Cole as president. Based on Manta and Buzzfile, it appears CT Concepts has two employees and has been in business for only six years, he said.
“They may not have the experience to do this type of work,” Kaniarz said. “You should question them about their experience and qualifications.”
E.C. Korneffel was second-highest bidder at $339,000. Kaniarz said they have been in business for 68 years and are highly qualified.
But, Kaniarz said, his experience with them is that they sometimes charge extras after they begin their work.
“It appears they plan to reach over the condos with the crane to install the sheeting,” Kaniarz said. “You would need to confirm that this is their plan and that no damage would result to the condo units.”
Finally, Todd’s Services came in third at $365,589. Kaniarz said their plan doesn’t conform to his design. “They say that longer sheeting would result in no deadmen required without calculations to verify this.
“It would appear to me that drilling longer sheets would be very difficult in the clay soils at the site,” he said. “Based on the above, I would go with Korneffel, based on their experience.
“If you can verify that C&R has the manpower and equipment to do the job, then you could award them with the project,” Kaniarz concluded.
Rutherford said CNR has a barge on the lake which would significantly reduce problems with the condos and shoreline.
He said Korneffel had in their paperwork that they would have no responsibility for the condos. Rutherford said he believes it would be better to work from the lakeside.
But, Rutherford said, he is intrigued by Korneffel’s reference to cost-saving thoughts, but he has not had the chance to reach out to them for details.
“It’s important to exhaust all opportunities,” Rutherford said.
He said he spoke to CNR and the company said it can provide a list of up to 50 permitted jobs on Ford and Belleville lakes.
Mayor Kerreen Conley asked how long the bids were good for and Rutherford said he believed it was 180 days.
“We’re six weeks in already,” Mayor Conley said, noting the bids were opened on April 2 and they are already a month out.
There is $44,000 difference between the CNR and Korneffel bids, but Rutherford pointed out Korneffel is saying they are not covering things that CNR is covering in its bid.
Rutherford said originally he thought the engineer’s recommendation could just be given to the council, but he has had second thoughts.
Mayor Conley said the city has to get started on the seawall as soon as possible.
She asked Rutherford to bring back a recommendation for a firm, a timeline, and funding, which could be from a loan, the fund balance, or Headlee.
Rutherford said Korneffel is using pile hammers but says its not liable for anything. He said the condo homeowners are waiting to see who the city selects.
City Manager Diana Kollmeyer said State Representative Kristy Pagan and State Senator Hoon-Yung Hopgood have offered to help the city and the city sent them the documentation.
City Manager Kollmeyer said if they were able to get the state to award the city some funds, the city could pay for the project and then be reimbursed.
Randy Priest said that all the property owners along the seawall came before the Board of Review for tax relief.