Town awards bid for No. Estero Project
The Fort Myers Beach Town Council unanimously agreed on a bid award for the North Estero Boulevard Drainage Improvement Project as part of its administrative agenda at Town Hall Monday. The award will go to a company called Southwest Utilities for just under $3 million, according to Interim Public Works Director Cathie Lewis.
“I provided you with the bid tabulation and the backup documentation for the bids that we received Aug. 5,” said Lewis. “Based on the engineer’s recommendation and confirmation from the contractor, we are recommending that the bid be awarded to Southwest Utilities Systems Inc. in the amount of $2,975,000.”
Lewis said the town’s intention is to have a public workshop with area residents and businesses once the contract is in place with the awarded company. A preliminary newsletter was mailed out and continued updates will be posted to the Town’s Web site at www.fortmyersbeachfl.gov.
Vice Mayor Herb Acken expressed concern over not having a specific town information officer assigned to the project – one who would be able to give regular neighborhood scheduled updates and emails.
“We do not have a public information officer per se, but we’ll definitely have a resident inspector on site daily and a construction manager,” said Lewis.
Interim Town Manager Jack Green acknowledged that the upcoming project is one of the largest and most complex the Town has undertaken in its 14-year incorporated history, but he is confident a communication line will remain open.
“Being available to the public is important,” said Green. “We understand the need for that. We’ll have to come up with a good plan to ensure the requests and the information get to us and we can respond in an appropriate and a timely fashion. We will provide that interface.”
Mayor Larry Kiker asked for clarification on why a local Beach contractor was not fully considered for the contract. Town Attorney Anne Daulton provided the reasoning.
“The onus is very specific about what types of projects qualify,” she said. “A project of this magnitude would not qualify.”
Councilman Tom Babcock focused his concern on the actual contract and the predictable change orders once the ground is broken. Southwest Utilities was the lowest price bidder.
“The good news is that the majority of the bids were pretty tight,” said Green. “(The contractor) is well known and has done quite a bit of work in Southwest Florida, specifically Cape Coral. We are confident that they are capable of doing this job; otherwise we wouldn’t be recommending them. The beauty of the bid being less than we anticipated means that we can breathe a little sigh of relief. We have to be realistic there will be change orders, but it’s how well we monitor this project that will determine the scope of this very event.”