Low bid for new pool comes in at $2.582 million
Brown Construction of Kearney submitted the low bid for the construction of a new, long-sought-after pool in the Grant city park.
Their bid came in at $2,582,000, which was 2% above of the probable cost of $2,530,000 estimated by the city’s engineer for the project, Larry Steele with Miller & Associates of Kearney.
Steele said he was hoping to get at least three bids and was especially pleased to get five.
Steele said Tuesday he will recommend the Grant city council accept the low bid. The council met Tuesday night after this week’s paper went to press.
The other four companies and their bids shown in order included:
• Mike Smith Construction, Holyoke, Colorado, $2,720,000;
• Sampson Construction, Lincoln, $2,920,000;
•Hackel Construction, Ord, $3,150,000; and
•Christiansen Construction, Pender, $3,427,000.
City Superintendent Edward Dunn said he was pleased to see the amount of the low bid, which was nearly in line with the estimated cost.
He noted the bid is for the pool and bathhouse construction. The engineering fees will be on top of the bid price.
He said the city will procure some necessary equipment to control cost by avoiding contractor markup.
Some of things include life guard chairs, benches, etc.
In November 2018, voters in the City of Grant approved a bond issue of up to $2.4 million for the new pool.
In 2012, voters approved a one-cent sales tax, of which half was designated for the pool project. To this point, $685,000 in sales tax receipts have been earmarked specifically for the pool.
Pool supporters have raised $270,000 in donations and pledges and the icing on the cake came last month when the city received a $562,000 grant for the pool project.
The grant came from the Nebraska Department of Economic Development’s Civic and Community Center Financing Fund.
Dunn said once the city has accepted the bid and signed contracts, the council will begin the process of determining the bond amount needed as well as when to sell those bonds.