Mason City council asked to delay Plymouth Road contract award after lone bid 58% more than projected cost

MASON CITY — The City Council in Mason City tonight is being asked to once again delay awarding a contract for the Plymouth Road Storm Water Mitigation Project that addresses flooding concerns in that area.

The council at their September 3rd meeting had to re-start the process of getting bids for the project after no bids were received. The project was originally scheduled to be completed by November 8th, but now city officials are eyeing a substantial completion date in March prior to the spring thaw and rains.

The city received and opened a single bid last Tuesday from McKinness Excavating for $373,233, 58% over the engineer’s opinion of cost and 49% over the project budget.

City Engineer Mark Rahm in a memo to the council says that requires further review of the project, with the city meeting with the engineer to explore alternative methods to address the areas that significantly affected the cost of the project. Rahm says consideration of alternative methods may require significant reworking of the current project, but it would be accomplished without compromising the effectiveness and success of the project.

The council was scheduled to hold a public hearing at their meeting tonight prior to acting on awarding a contract for the project, but they’ll be asked to delay that until their October 15th meeting. The council meets at 7 o’clock tonight in the Mason City Room of the Public Library.