The Cook County commissioners’ room was packed on March 18, 2014 for the public comment period that precedes the board’s business meeting.
More than 30 people showed up to advocate for the county board approving funds that would allow a sidewalk to be built from County Road 7 from the old Gunflint Trail (5th Avenue West) to Birchwood Apartments.
The area has the 24-unit Birchwood Apartments and the 24-unit Sawtooth Ridges for seniors, as well as the care center and the hospital. It is a high traffic area for kids and seniors to walk in, especially during times before and after school.
Speaking in order were Jay Arrowsmith Decoux, who presented names of people from Sawtooth Ridges apartments in favor of building the sidewalk; Great Expectations Administrator Peter James; Sawtooth Elementary Principal Gwen Carman; Danny Garcia, caretaker at Sawtooth Ridges; Jennifer Schulz, a public health nurse who lives across the street from the hospital at the corner of 5th Avenue and County Road 7; Kristine Bottorff, resident of Birchwood apartments; Debbie Benedict, representing the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic Board of Directors; and Active Living Steering Committee (ALSC) and Moving Matters Coordinator Kristin Wharton.
Garcia summed up everyone’s sentiments when he said, “We see a lot of folks that use that area. We see a lot of foot traffic. We’re definitely in favor of seeing the sidewalk put in.”
Schulz, who is currently receiving treatment for cancer, said she is home a lot these days and spending a lot of time looking out of the window. She said she feared for her own safety crossing the street when she was going to physical therapy, and she was especially concerned for small children who walk along the road when it was busy and the snow banks are high.
Wharton said the Safe Routes to School program had named this area for a sidewalk to be built as its number one priority in 2010 and that discussions for its construction had been ongoing since then with the county board, city of Grand Marais, the two schools in town, and Grand Portage. She urged the board to pass a motion calling for the construction of the sidewalk, making the area a safe and accessible place for people to walk, bike and exercise.
Bids came in substantially higher than anticipated, said County Highway Engineer David Betts. The engineer’s estimate was $77,600 and the low bid received from Northland Constructors, LLC, was $114,552.70.
“Upon review we have found that Northland Constructors, LLC of Duluth Minnesota, is the responsible low bidder and is qualified to compete for the project.
“However, given the unexpected high price of the proposed project, we recommend that the Board of Commissioners reject all bids and cancel the project. The bids, in our opinion, are way out of line. We will look for other opportunities to construct the project in the future,” Betts said, adding that the county could roll the sidewalk project into planned work on County Road 7 in 2017.
Commissioner Garry Gamble said this was a defining moment between the board of commissioners as decision makers and the Active Living Steering Committee.
“Normally our engineers estimate high. This bid came in 48 percent over what the estimate was,” Gamble said, then he read a list of policy discussions concerning decision making, and citing concerns about the agenda of the ALSC, he called on his fellow commissioners to follow the advice of the county engineer and reject the bid.
Commissioner Sue Hakes made a motion to award the contract to the second highest bidder, the local firm of S&C Masonry-Concrete, Inc./ Crawford Excavating, LLC. “They were only $2,000 over the low bid,” said Hakes.
“This is a state aid project and we have to follow the rules on the bids,” said Betts, adding, “Local contractors got to bid on the contract but there is no legal reason to reject the low bid.”
Hakes withdrew her motion and then made a second motion to award the contract to Northland Constructors, LLC.
Hakes also asked if the county could negotiate with the low bidder to get the contract reduced. Betts said they could, but he didn’t think they would get anywhere because it was a small contract for Northland and he didn’t think he could get them to move on their numbers.
He also said awarding this bid would take half of the dollars the county has been saving in its municipal account and by doing this work, projects scheduled for 2015 would have to be pushed back because of a lack of funds.
“In my professional opinion, this isn’t a wise use of dollars,” Betts said.
Commissioner Jan Hall said she appreciated Gamble’s opinion, but didn’t think the sidewalk really had to do with any one group. “Active Living is not the issue today. We’re talking about lives.
“I know it’s high and I know that we would be using other monies dedicated for other projects, but listening to these people today and facing the fact that we could have a child hurt at that corner and if you sit there for one hour it’s really a dangerous corner. I feel that this is really something we need to do, and I would like to move forward,” said Hall.
Commissioner Heidi Doo-Kirk said all of the bids were within 2.5 percent of each other and the winning bid was only $36,952.70 over the estimate.
She noted that the county had just saved $180,000 on a bid from Ulland Brothers, Inc. that came in at $1,930,420 (the engineers’ estimate was $2,112,662.05 for a rehabilitation project on County Road 12).
Plus, Doo-Kirk said, the county board also approved a $30,000 overrun on another bid for a piece of equipment, and in light of those two items and in the importance of public safety, she urged the board to approve Hakes’ motion.
Gamble said when this came up the commissioners wanted the work to be available for local contractors and Betts had advised against it because of all of the extra work involved. “This came back to bite us. So this is on us, and that must be noted.
“It will take approximately half of the funding that we have been saving to use on municipal road construction, that’s a reality. I am opposed because we advised him to do something he advised us not to do. We put him [Betts] in an awkward position,” Gamble said.
Hakes said she agreed with Gamble, “The county board goofed up here. It’s too bad the bids came in high but one could make a compelling argument we would be doing something for the community good.”
And Hakes asked again for her motion to pass. Kirk, Hall and Hakes voted for the bid to be awarded to Northland Constructors LLC for $114,552.70 while Gamble was the lone dissenting vote, with Commissioner Bruce Martinson absent.
The project’s completion date is sometime in August, said Betts.
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