New Town Hall Project
Some of our residents asked the Board of Supervisors to consider building a new town hall to replace the old hall, 

 

to provide an accessible building;
to obtain local government services, to provide enough inside parking to accommodate our new brush mower/tractor.   
We do not at this time have enough room to house all of our equipment in the existing garage and had considered building only a new garage for our truck and tractor. 
Oh... and to provide INDOOR restrooms which are sorely needed.  Anyone who has used the existing outhouse knows why we need something better and our voting booths are also just barely adequate.

It was then suggested that we build a combined garage and new town hall together to take advantage of the lower materials and construction costs that are present today.  On June 17, 2008, a public meeting was held to discuss the issue of building this new structure and only about six property owners attended.  Those folks voted to proceed with the building project this fall due to lower construction costs and approved the hiring of an architect to draw up plans needed for the permit application with Crow Wing County.  We also began the process of assembling a package for bidders for the construction part of the project and an advertisement for sealed bids was published on June 24 and July 1, 2008.  The bid opening was scheduled for July 10th just prior to our regular meeting.

The sealed bids received were opened on July 10, 2008 and the board voted to reject all bids due to the high cost of building reflected in the bids.  Bids ranged from $232,000 to $308,00 and two companies  did not provide a bid due to problems with the plans and specifications.  Part of the reason for the cost overrun was due to erroneous building specifications that were not needed but were incorporated into the bid documents derived from the plans provided by the architect.  Bid opening minutes are here.

At the August 14th regular meeting, the board heard more comment and again discussed the cost of building and the issue of perhaps placing the question to build on the November election ballot to better reflect the opinion of more of the Town's residents who will be paying the costs of the project.  This would be an option that the Board could exercise even though the statutory requirements have been met regarding procedural issues pertaining to the discussions and the Board's decision to proceed with this project.  A valid argument can be made that because of the higher than anticipated building costs as reflected in the bids received, it would be appropriate to place this issue on the November ballot.  It should also be noted that those costs to build will likely be greatly reduced through a revised bid process involving a better definition of the plan of work, bidder responsibility and improved cost controls through a revision of the bid package design and content.

To See the Progress, Click these links:  PHOTOS PAGE 1    PHOTOS PAGE 2    PHOTOS PAGE 3    PHOTOS PAGE 4    PHOTOS PAGE 5  
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