District Library wrestles with bids coming in $500,000 over budget

“Don’t be discouraged. It will work out. We didn’t come this far to throw in the towel,” said Belleville Area District Library secretary LaChelle Reed Caver at the end of the board’s regular meeting Aug. 14.
Board members had been discussing the second round of bids for library construction and if they accepted all the low bids they would be some $500,000 over budget, if they kept their 3% owner contingency.
Architect Dan Whisler said this is a $10 million project and $3.4 million has been awarded so far for structural steel, concrete, and foundation. The bids that just came in were $3.6 million, which means $7 million is committed. There is $2 million in the un-awarded category and then one that should be rebid.
He said the millwork only got one bid and that was high so should be rebid.
“There’s still work to be done,” Whisler said.
“We’re hopeful it all will move in the right direction,” said board chairman Sharon Peters.
At its June 21 meeting, the building committee awarded the contract for concrete foundations to Fessler & Bowman and the masonry contract to Leidel & Hart. At its June 29 meeting they awarded the elevator bid to Otis Elevators and the steel bid to Steel Supply & Engineering. The steel bid was $123,000 over budget due to rising steel prices in the market.
O’Neal Construction updated the construction budget and the electrical and HVAC budgets are higher. Whisler made some adjustments to the lighting (electrical) package to reduce the cost. The Michigan prevailing wage law for public projects has been repealed, which reduced the cost. Then the committee voted to go out for bids for the remainder of the project and these are the bids they are dealing with now.
At the Aug. 7 committee meeting after all the bids had been opened, the $500,000 in extra costs was discussed.
Joy Cichewicz, building committee chairwoman, said they are inclined to lock in some bids such as electric, asphalt, and masonry, which is higher but needed early. There were five estimates, she said of the masonry, and “This is what the market is.”
They noted roofing was above budget, but there are ideas to lowering the costs. There were three bids for roofing, but it was $100,000 over budget. Glazing (windows) was under budget, along with concrete flatwork (slab) and waterproofing, but fire suppression was a little over.
“O’Neal is continuing to talk to all the companies likely to accept,” Cichewicz said, adding they will come to the next meeting with recommendations. They have several ideas to cut costs, she said.
She said the next budget meeting is 10 a.m., Thursday, Aug. 23, at the library and the public is welcome to attend. Upcoming meetings are 10 a.m. on Tuesdays, Sept. 4 and 18.
“At this point, the sunscreen doesn’t look like it’s going to happen,” Cichewicz said. “We’re trying to keep the terrace, but we’re $500,000 over budget.”
She referred to the terrace planned for outside the children’s part of the library, with a sunscreen over it. When asked what would happen if they couldn’t have the terrace, they were told it would be walled in.
Board member John Juriga said Blue Ribbon is not going to eat the expense caused by a company the library hired to measure that was four feet off.
“By the time we accept all the bids, the $500,000 will be less,” said Peters. “… I do think it’s hopeful. Maybe we won’t be looking and a half million dollars worth of problems.”
“We can’t,” agreed Cichewicz.
Juriga said the present tariff situation caused them to have to pay 35% more for steel.
Whisler said they are still waiting for information on when the building permit will be issued by the city. He said the certification is resolved. The library ended up talking with Library Director Mary Jo Suchy and attorney John Day and, “We gave them a preamble text and submitted the drawings.
“We’re still waiting for a building permit,” Whisler said. “Rick Rutherford is reviewing our oval staircase. We have not heard back.”
Whisler said the library bid out 22 categories of bids and nine will get recommendations from Matt Ratzow at O’Neal.
“The library has 90 days from when the bids were opened. They have to hold their prices,” he said.
Whisler said some are not as urgent and can wait and one category will be rebid a bit later. He said in a few categories they got two bidders, which is low. Masonry has five, so that’s the market. There were three bids on roofing, which is not unreasonable, he said.
Cichewicz said there are ideas to bring the roofing cost down by $32,000, so it will less than $100,000 higher than budget.
Whisler said when rebidding, the bids could come in higher because the first bids are public now.
In other business at the 40-minute meeting on Aug. 14, the board:
• Heard Director Suchy announce the library has received a donation from the Jahr Family and is hoping to find a niche in the children’s room of the new library to dedicate in memory of Pat Jahr and her son Dan. The Friends of the Library have a Jahr memorial fund that they will donate to the library to complement the Jahrs’ very generous donation, she said;
• Heard Suchy announce a new, part-time librarian Theresa Spiteri-Zaidel, who will help at the reference desk as well as with the book collection preparations for the new library. Jessamy Green-Husted is on a leave of absence and gave birth to a baby girl over the week end;
• Heard Suchy announce that Hoopla is almost here. The library plans a soft roll out of this service beginning in September. Patrons will be able to check out e-books, e-audiobooks, music, and videos with their library cards. The library will pay a $2 fee per each item checked out, but they will be free to patrons. Users will be limited to four items per month to stay within budget. Suchy said she believes this will be very popular with patrons. She said the user has it for 30 days and then can renew it for another 30 days, or it just goes away. It was noted that book clubs or classrooms could use the service; and
• Heard Suchy announce that Eva Davis of the Canton Library said that she is working toward no restrictions at their library for the Belleville-area community. Currently, non-residents are limited to 10 checkouts there. Peters said they didn’t want to help our community if it wasn’t interested in investing in its own library. With the new millage support, “Now we do,” she said.