SELMA – Despite setbacks, the city of Selma’s quest to brighten the streets of downtown with decorative cafe lights continues.
After receiving just one bid that was hundreds of thousands of dollars over budget, Selma’s city engineering is going back to the drawing board to configure a downtown lighting project that won’t cost the city upwards of $500,000. Although the Selma City Council and members of the public were unhappy to hear that the city only received one bid on the project, the council voted on July 1 to reject the bid and re-evaluate the project.
“When we really originally discussed this, we gave a deadline of September 1 for this, so it’s been a month since that went out to bid — a month — and we’ve got nothing,” Mayor Scott Robertson said. “So I think we need to get moving.”
City Engineer David Horn explained to the council at its July 1 meeting that only one contractor, C3 Electric, Inc., responded to the bid opportunity put out by the city in May for the downtown lighting project. The project initially envisioned lining High Street between First and Second Street with string lights, supported on poles, that would cross back and forth over the road.
For the project, C3 Electric submitted a base bid of about $506,000. The estimate prepared by the city’s engineering firm, Yamabe and Horn, anticipated the project would cost just under $185,000. The engineer’s estimate is not formed by calling contractors to get an idea of their prices, but is based on the opinion of the various engineers who put together the bid, Horn said.
Contractors can put whatever price they want on items included in a bid, he said, which is why the city is usually legally required to select the lowest responsive bid for projects. Only getting one bid then defeats the purpose of the competitive bidding process.
“This contractor isn’t obligated to tell us why they came up with such a high price,” Horn said. “That’s their right, that’s their price, that’s why we do competitive bids. When we get three or four, you will see contractors with prices all over the place, and it’s completely dependent upon their operation and where they do things.”
Horn said the high price was likely because the project as it was initially designed would require specially engineered poles strong enough to handle the weight of the lights, which need to be at a height that can ensure emergency vehicles, including the ladder fire engine, can still pass through.
In addition to rejecting the bid, Horn proposed that the city “value engineer” the project, which is a process of looking at each piece of the project and finding ways to complete it at the lowest cost. He also suggested that the city consider stringing the lights along the side of the street as opposed to across the street, as that would reduce the strain on the poles and ultimately make the project cheaper.
After the council and public rehashed why the city removed its trees and lights from downtown in the first place, and residents complained about not being provided any pictures as part of the city engineer’s presentation, the council directed staff to keep working on the project.
“I think you’re hearing our frustration,” Robertson told staff. “We’ve been dealing with this a long time. We’re not mad at you, we just want this done, and to get a bid like that that’s so far off the engineer’s estimate, it just shows how far apart we are from our city having a concept of how we do this and get this done.”
Staff said they would value engineer the design and go out to bid for a second time, keeping in mind the public noticing timeline required for going out to bid.
As of the council meeting on July 15, city staff said engineers were still working on value engineering the project and preparing a new bid. Horn said he is also considering a backup plan for if the second bid does not yield any better results. One option the city may have is installing more mature trees, as opposed to young trees, and then stringing the lights from those trees.
Although it is taking more time than anyone in the city would like, Selma’s engineering and public works departments have assured the city council that they will find a way to bring the vision of the Selma Downtown Strategic Plan to life.
