Library renovation bid approved

NEW LONDON – The New London Common Council awarded the contract for the library renovation project to 8Pine, Inc. of Shawano, in the amount of $5,430,959.
The council approved the bid, which was the only bid received for the project, at a special council meeting May 7. The project will convert the former First State Bank building into the city’s library.
At the meeting, New London City Administrator Chad Hoerth told the council that the library renovation project was put out to bid several months ago, with the original bid opening set for early April. The bid opening was pushed back in an effort to get more businesses interested in submitting a bid for the project.
After the rescheduled bid opening on April 28, the city received only one bid for the library renovation project. The only bid was submitted by 8Pine, a newer company located in Shawano. Hoerth said 8Pine was awarded a project in Shawano that had also received the same type of grant that the city of New London has received for the library renovation project.
Hoerth acknowledged that there were concerns because 8Pine is a newer company. This resulted in city of New London officials meeting with members of 8Pine for a pre-qualifications meeting. Hoerth added that even though 8Pine is a newer company, it has a lot of employees who have gained a lot of experience by working for other companies in the industry, such as Miron.

After the meeting, Hoerth said city officials were more comfortable with 8Pine.
Because the city received only one bid for the project, and the grant requires receiving multiple bids to compare, Hoerth said the city is going through the process to receive a sole bid exemption from the state. This is needed to award the contract to the single.
Hoerth added that the bid received was “a little higher than anticipated.” Contributing factors to the higher than expected bid included this not being an ideal time of the year to request bids.
“We should have had this bid out in November, but we had to wait for the grant process,” Hoerth said. “We were waiting for the grant paperwork to make sure that everything was all received. That pushed everything back to March and April. April’s probably not the best time to bid out because the contractors have their schedules already figured out for the summers.”
Another factor was the grant for the project included a tight timeline requirement.
“Many of the contractors felt like that was too tight for their timelines as well,” Hoerth said.
The New London Library Museum Board reviewed the bid from 8Pine at its April 30 meeting, Hoerth said, and the board recommended awarding the project to 8Pine.
Hoerth said the project includes architectural design costs of $465,000 and construction management costs just under $400,000.Keller is suggesting at least a $400,000 contingency budget.
“We’re going to find things when we open up those walls,” Hoerth said.
Hoerthadded that asbestos has been identified in the building. The city is currently going through a bid process for the removal of the asbestos.
A grant administrator will also be hired because of the amount of paperwork that will need to be submitted per the requirements of the grant the city received for the project, Hoerth said.
The construction project cost amounted to $6.7 million.
The city will pay for the project with a $3.9 million grant, donations received for the project amounting to about $2.1 million, and another contribution of $500,000 from the city. This amounts to $6.5 million.
Depending on some of the items that could be added to the cost, Hoerth said there is a shortfall of funds of around $211,000 or $229,200.
The council was told there are $214,357 of pledges outstanding, which would be enough to fill the smaller gap. That is if everyone honors their pledge.
The council was also told that fundraising for the project would continue.
Council President John Hass asked New London Finance Director Judy Radke if she was comfortable with the city covering the project shortfall if it needed to.
“I am,” Radke said. “I would say this is a very large project that’s going to do a lot of good for our community, and I feel that once that project starts up, there will be opportunities to knock on doors and ask people to help us finish.”