Highland Heights Road Program Bids Are Over Budget

The lowest bid for   2012 road program came in at about $38,000 more than estimated.

City Engineer Brian Mader said Specialized Construction's bid of $588,520 was the lowest and he recommends the company be awarded a contract. However, he suggested to City Council at a committee meeting Tuesday that removing some concrete work could get the city close to the estimated cost of $567,000.

The street repair program calls for overlays and repairs on Whiteford and Castlehill drives, patchwork on Miner and Highland roads, paving of parking lots at the municipal complex and miscellaneous concrete repairs.

"The biggest thing that came in high was the miscellaneous concrete repairs. That was more than double what I expected," Mader said.

Two items in particular - work on the Wilson Mills ramp of Interstate 271 and repairs on Sturbridge Drive – added about $16,000 to the bid. Mader said Specialized Construction was more than double other bidders for those projects. He said the difference was likely due to the subcontractor being used.

"The Wilson Mills work (costing $15,000) is for 25 square yards of pavement. That struck me as the most outrageous one," Mader said.

He suggested that he could tell the contractor to not do the work, which could then be done cheaper by someone else. But Law Director Tim Paluf wasn't sure if it was legal to award portions of the contract since the concrete repairs weren't listed an alternate, but part of the overall bid package.

"We have to find out what we can do," Mayor Scott Coleman said.