Sep 24, 2005 By Steve Ferris 3 min read

Uniontown City Council decided Friday to forge ahead with a downsized parking garage after bids came in at more than $1 million over budget. Council unanimously voted to re-advertise for bids to build a smaller parking garage than what was originally planned after rejecting all four bids submitted last week.

Bob Opel of Fay-Penn Economic Development Council, the project manager, explained that material costs have risen 20 to 30 percent since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast earlier this month and warned council that those costs could escalate more because of Hurricane Rita.

He said material costs soared between the time the project specifications were prepared and the time contractors submitted their bids.

“I could not have foreseen that in advance,” Opel said, responding to a question from Councilman Joseph Giachetti.

The higher material costs have been documented, he said, adding that the bids submitted last week would have been 5 percent above the project budget even without the increased material costs.

Overall, the bids, which ranged from $4.17 million to $4.48 million, were about 30 percent more than the $3.15 million budget, Opel said.

He said he conducted a line-by-line review of some of the bids and found that the cost of some items “didn’t make sense.”

As an example, he said one bid included $500,000 for masonry and another listed $4 per square foot for electrical work. He said both costs were too high.

Another bid included pre-cast concrete panels at the garage entrance for $50 per square foot. Opel said the panels will be changed to masonry walls in the new specifications to reduce the overall cost.

Using “value engineering,” Opel said the project was revised and downsized without reducing the quality of construction. He said specifications for the foundation will not change.

The new bid specifications will ask contractors to give prices for a three-level garage and a 3 1/2-level one.

After the meeting, Charles Church Jr. of Churches Consulting Engineers of Claysville, the firm that designed the building, said a three-level garage would have about 200 parking spaces and a 3 1/2-level garage would have about 220 spaces.

The original plans called for a 300-space 4 1/2-level garage to be completed by March 30, 2006.

The new completion date would be June 30, 2006, Opel said.

“I’m not happy at all with what’s going on,” said Councilman Blair R. Jones Sr.

He suggested building only a two-level garage that can have levels added if needed.

Opel said all $3.5 million of the state grant awarded for the project has to be spent on it.

If the bids for the 4 1/2-level garage had come in less than $3.5 million, the garage would have been enlarged to a five levels, he said.

“All we’re doing is downsizing,” Mayor James Sileo said. “That’s what we should do.”

After the meeting, Sileo promised that the garage project will proceed.

“That garage will be built. It will be built,” he said.

After the project is re-advertised Monday, bids will be due by 11 a.m. Oct. 7 and will be opened at a special meeting at 11:30 a.m. that day.

In unrelated business, council agreed to advertise for a 2005 aerial tower ladder truck for the fire department.

Fire Chief Myron Nypaver said the existing ladder truck is 30 years old and replacement parts are difficult to find. It will be kept as a backup, he said.