Board of Mayor and Aldermen move forward with city park projects

The Board of the Mayor and Aldermen moved forward in selecting a contracting bid Monday to begin construction at the Kuhn Civil Rights Park and Sherman Avenue Park.

The board has been working since December with a municipal committee as well as a contracted architectural firm, Wier Boerner Allin Architecture, to design the Kuhn Civil Rights Park memorializing Kuhn and other local civil rights leaders.  In March, the city clerk was authorized to advertise for bids on the projects.

A key point in Monday’s board meeting was to address an issue with the lowest bid, which was not signed and did not include the specified allowances for contingency in the playground.  The board was tasked with determining if accepting the bid in its incomplete state would be fair to the other bidders on the project.

South Ward Alderman Alex Monsour was the first to give an opinion on the matter, suggesting to reject the flawed bid and award it to the next lowest bidder.

“The integrity of the bid system, I think, is going to be a question,” Monsour said.  “Everybody knows the instructions…It’s a question of somebody bringing a contract or a bid and not putting something in there, which makes them not the low bidder at the time, directly reflects on the committee to be able to make those decisions.”

“I don’t see where we have too much of an option but to go to the next bidder,” North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield agreed, stating that a re-bid would hinder progress and likely result in higher bids across the board.

The motion passed with support of both aldermen, although Mayor Flaggs was opposed.