South Iowa News

The Ottumwa City Council heard motions regarding two cleanup projects in the city during the council's regular meeting on March 21.

The council was presented with two motions regarding bids for asbestos abatement and demolition of properties in the city. The city had put demolition and abatement projects out for bids on two vacant and condemned properties, located at 530 W. Fourth St. and other 734 Center St. The council had opened bidding on March 15, but had not been satisfied with any of the bids they received. The lowest bid they received for the project was rejected because the contractor didn’t have adequate bid security. Trustee Doug McAntire said he was concerned about the available pool of contractors for the job.

"I'm just a little concerned, because we only have so many people that do this," McAntire said, "and with prices of everything else going up, we give people more money because it costs more. And now we're acting like in a way that it don't cost more" for out-of-town contractors, because "if you open the bid again and get people out of town, they're going to charge a lot more than what is here."

Planning and Development Director Zach Simonson said that while the city staff was comfortable accepting the second-lowest bid, in the case of two other projects, the two demolition and abatement project bids were too high, and he did not think the city should accept them. Simonson recommended the city put the contracts back out for bid, although some on the council questioned why he felt the second lowest bids would be too high. Simonson informed them that the bid would make it the second largest demolition project the city has undertaken, more expensive than other comparable, and even larger projects.

“Yeah, and we definitely don't want to scare away any bidders. But we also, you know, on the staff side, I can't make a recommendation that I think that bid's reasonable," Simonson said. "I think it's too high. It's the public's money. And I really hope that we'll just continue to try to maintain good relationships, share the bids, be honest and forthright, and the people still continue to bid."

The owner of McKee Construction and Abatement addressed the council, having submitted one of the lowest bidders for the projects. He said he had done a thorough investigation of the properties and felt his bid was fair, imploring them not to reject it. His bid was about $4,000 above what the council wanted to pay for the house demolition, but in the end the council awarded each contract to the second-lowest bidder.