By: James Pruitt
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
After being shut out on bids for a shelter house and restroom at Wabash Park, the village of West Unity will advertise the project again.
The new specs will be different from the previous bid with several changes:
-The project will not require a prevailing wage
-The restroom will use an electric dryer instead of a paper towel dispenser to thwart vandalism.
-The foundation will be trenched.
-The toilet will be hand flushed with an electric eye for the sinks. Although at the suggestion of Council member Don Leu, a mechanical faucet will be considered.
-Poggemeyer will cover any additional costs for advertising and the project itself.
The reason the project did not garner any bids was that it was late in the season and most contractors had their schedules filled. Now that the summer season is concluding, some contractors could have openings and would be able to bid.
The project must be completed by Memorial Day, 2017.
In other news:
Engineer Todd Roth, working as a private contractor, updated the council on the storm sewer project.
“It’s going well,” Roth said. “We are finding new structures and we are finding some mystery areas.”
The village awarded the bid for the Jackson Street water line project to S & S Directional Boring. The contractor will begin the project around Oct. 1, Administrator Josh Fritsch.
The village has sent out Requests for Qualifications for the first phase of the Waste Water Treatment Plant. The village had to seek RFQs because the engineering cost for the project exceeded $50,000.
Three firms responded: Poggemeyer, Jones and Henry and Feller and Finch. He has met wity the design engineers from each firm.
ODOT will resurface SR 191 in 2018 and state officials have met with Fritsch to discuss the project. The officials also talked about the resurfacing for U.S. 20A and wanted to know if the village wanted to do the parking space markings or have the state do it.
If the state does it, the village would lose 13 spaces and four handicap parking spaces would be lost. Council formed a consensus to do the parking spaces.
The village will be repairing the sidewalk on Jackson Street at the entrance to F & M State Bank. Homeowners in the northwest side of town will get letters letting them know they should contact the village if they need their walks fixed.
Two members of the Amvets club of Bryan spoke to the council about a special ceremony at the Veterans Memorial Building in Montpelier for a special remembrance ceremony for POWs-MIA. The event begins at 4 p.m. Sept. 18 and should run for an hour.
James Pruitt may be reached at
publisher@thevillagereporter.com