Oct 11, 2006 By Steve Ferris 2 min read

Carmichaels Borough Council on Tuesday decided to proceed with its plan to advertise for bids to construct a new borough building. Council President Chris Bates said council agreed to advertise for a newly constructed building at last month’s meeting, but the project was not advertised because the solicitor advised council to talk to a company that submitted one of the bids that were rejected in July.

Those talks were not productive so council decided to advertise the project, Bates said.

In another twist, council received a letter from the owner of a vacant store in the borough offering to sell the building, but there were some strings attached to the deal, Bates said.

He said the property owner offered to sell the building for $40,000, but said the borough could send him a check for $80,000 and he would give $40,000 back to the borough.

Bates said council members agreed that they wanted a new building.

In May, council advertised for a 1,200 square foot modular building.

Council received and opened four the bids in June and rejected them all in July because none of them met the bid specifications.

The bid prices ranged from $58,100 to $110,549.

The new building will be constructed in a lot the borough owns a lot in the town square.

Council has about $98,000 set aside for the new building. Most of the money is from a grant and $15,300 is from the borough budget.