The Metro Council is “extremely skeptical” about awarding a nearly $900,000 contract to provide for a stage covering at the Galvez Plaza project downtown, Mayor Pro Tem Mike Walker says, and is deferring signing off on it until more questions are answered by the administration. Despite having unanimously approved an extra $1 million for the stage covering and other project improvements on May 11, a number of questions remain about the contract that’s since been reached between the city-parish and Arrighi Construction, Walker says. “We understand there was a proposal to do a stage covering for $350,000, so it looks like they want a Cadillac now instead of a Chevrolet,” Walker says. “We also want to know why this bid came in at $5 below what’s budgeted and the next lowest bid is for $3.6 million.”
William Daniel, Department of Public Works acting director, says the low bid by Arrighi Construction was initially nearly twice the $900,000 budgeted for the project. After negotiating and coming up with a new method for building the stage covering, he says, the $899,995 contract was reached. “State bid law allows us to negotiate with the low bidder, so that’s what we did in conjunction with the engineer and architect. After finding a more efficient method of construction, the contractor agreed to cut their profit to come in below the budgeted amount,” Daniel says. “We did everything completely by the book.”
Walker says the council also wants to make sure there will be no more change orders or cost increases for the project. Daniel says he does not foresee any more increases but cannot legally forbid change orders in the contract.
The council deferred awarding the contract for 30 days at its Aug. 10 meeting, but Daniel says the administration plans to bring it back before the council at its regular meeting Aug. 24. The administration wants to ensure the project stays on schedule and the material costs for the steel structure do not rise, he says. “Steel is a rapidly changing commodity, and the steel bid we have is not good for the amount of time that the council deferred it,” Daniel says. “We can’t wait 30 days.”
The project is scheduled for completion in February 2012, which is when an estimated 100,000 bowlers and visitors will begin arriving in Baton Rouge for the 2012 Bowling Congress. The administration and Downtown Development District previously urged the council to sign off on the $1 million allocation so that the stage would be ready to use throughout the five-month event. “We think we’re going to be ready, but if projects are continually delayed due to the council putting them off, then we may be in danger of not being ready,” Daniel says.
The Galvez Plaza, Town Square and Repentance Park projects under construction downtown have a combined cost of roughly $12.1 million and are being funded via a mix of sales tax rebates, the city-parish general fund and grants.
