Belleville DDA awards bid for Horizon Park project to Blue Ribbon

Four bids for construction of the Horizon Park kayak launch and attendant projects were opened by Dave Vallier of Spicer Engineers at the Feb. 18 meeting of the Belleville Downtown Development Authority.
In 2011, the estimate for the project was $157,000, but the lowest bid opened on Feb. 18 was $40,000 more than that, he pointed out.
Bidders were:
• Anglin Civil – $223,600.25 for both divisions
• Davenport Brothers – $211,284, both divisions
• Blue Ribbon – $194,071.50 for both divisions
• Terrafirma – $99,670.99 for the first division
The DDA voted to give the bids to Spicer to go over them and make a recommendation.
Vallier said since there were two divisions in the project, he will separate parts of the bids and may recommend two companies for the separate work projects.
The first division is for dock improvements, parking lot paving, concrete sidewalk, and shoreline/stairway grading and seeding, kiosk improvements, decorative benches, decorative trash receptacle, and clean up and site restoration.
The second division was for furnishing and installing the canoe/kayak launch, 150 feet of EZ Dock, and 2 EZ Dock gangways.
DDA Coordinator Carol Thompson said that local vendor preference in bidding is only for projects under $100,000, in reply to Treasurer Sabrina Richardson-Williams question about whether Davenport will get a preference.
Actually, the Davenport Brothers business is in Belleville and their homes are in Sumpter Township. Bidder Blue Ribbon has his business located in Romulus and he lives in Van Buren Township. A Terrafirma office is in Van Buren Township.
At its March 18 meeting, Vallier told the DDA that the project ran into a hiccup.
He said the project was set up to be bid in two divisions and at the mandatory pre-bid meeting on Feb. 4 companies were told they could bid on one or both divisions.
Vallier said Davenport’s bid of $92,030 was low on division one and Blue Ribbon at $96,690 was low on division two. Blue Ribbon was low on both divisions and Davenport was second.
Vallier said they heard back from the DNR on March 4 and the DNR said they could not award the bids by division.
The DNR said the DDA advertisement did not specifically state that they could bid by divisions and it could be misleading.
The DDA could revise the form and rebid or award the whole contract to Blue Ribbon, the low bidder.
Vallier said he told the DNR that he told the contractors at the meeting that they could bid by divisions.
He said he heard back from the DNR on March 13, saying the DDA had two options: rebid with the addendum that the base bids will be awarded by division or award the contract to the lowest bidder: Blue Ribbon.
The DNR noted that page AD-2 of the advertisement for bids said, “Oral Statements may not be relied upon and will not be binding or legally effective.”
“We need to make a decision,” Vallier said.
DDA member Brian Copsey said, “Blue Ribbon should get it – a no-brainer to me.” He said there were benefits to using the same company for both divisions of work.
Mayor Kerreen Conley, who sits on the DDA as a voting member, said there is a $5,000 difference doing it this way. She noted the DDA still doesn’t have FERC approval for the work in the lake.
Vallier said the work on the shore could start after the Frost Laws.
DDA coordinator Carol Thompson said the DDA is still waiting for operator of the dam STS and Van Buren Township to complete the report and send it to FERC.
Mayor Conley said the two contractors in the community – Davenport and Blue Ribbon – have been doing work in the city for years and she was kind of excited to think they could be working together.
“Both are very well respected and do good work,” she said.
Vallier said if it was re-advertised on April 2 with plans and specs available April 6-10. There would be no pre-bid conference and they would notify those who bid and anyone else.
Copsey said everybody knows what was bid and that would cause a problem. Mayor Conley said that would bring lower bids.
Copsey made a motion to move forward and award the bid to Blue Ribbon, pending approval from the DNR. Sabrina Richardson-Williams seconded the motion and it was approved 5-1 with Mayor Conley voting no.
“Does the township know it has things to do?” asked Councilman Tom Fielder from the audience.
Thompson said she talks to them every week. She said a packet is assembled by VBT and STS but Belleville doesn’t have a copy of the sent documents.
After the vote was taken to approve Blue Ribbon, DDA chairwoman Rosemary Loria said, “It was a tough decision. I don’t know if there’s a right or wrong decision. Hopefully, we’ll get the kayak launch built this summer.”
At the March 18 meeting, the DDA:
• Heard a report on the Belleville Area Museum program by Director Katie Dallos; and
• Was informed that the BYC will do its Beautification project on May 2 and asked the DDA to provide the dumpster.
In other business at the brief Feb. 18 meeting, the DDA:
• Heard a verbal report and accepted a written report from Randy Brown on the Belleville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Winter Fest. Last year the DDA’s grant money went to pay for Winter Fest fireworks and he said they had a $124 profit on the Fest. “It’s a family event and we want to keep it a family event,” Brown said, adding the scheduling conflict with the Angel of Hope ceremony was worked out. He said attendance was down this year, with 3,000 people estimated to have attended each of the days. He said they would like to think of ways to bring more people out for Winter Fest;
• Heard Kelly Howey of Plante Moran present the Alan C. Young & Associates annual audit for the DDA as of June 30, 2014. She said the audit had no findings and no suggestions for improvements and would be like an “A” grade. Howey said she reduced the 31-page audit document to four pages to present to the DDA; and
• Heard Randy Brown say the weeds around the bridge coming into town detract from the city’s entrance. He said the DPW should cut them or spray them. He said the Van Buren Township DDA and Belleville DDA could do a joint project and take care of the weeds on Denton Road, too. Former DDA chairman John Hoops, who was in the audience, said they had looked into herbicides that were safe next to the lake. He said it is more cost-effective to trim than to pay more for spray that is safe to use around water. DDA member Gary Snarski challenged Brown to come up with a way to deal with the weeds. John Hoops said VBT owns the shoreline, so that might be something to consider. Brown thought both entities could work together. Snarski said if Brown came up with a method they could take it to VBT for the township to consider.