Bids opened for JFS office

The plan is to move employees into the building by June.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- "I couldn't have asked for anything better," Bruce Sekanick of Phillips/Sekanick Architects said after bids were opened Tuesday for renovation of the county-owned Park Porter building downtown to house the Department of Job and Family Services and One-Stop jobs office.
The apparent low bidders for the renovation came in at a total cost of 2,446,709 -- just under the bid estimate of 2.5 million to 2.7 million Sekanick told commissioners to expect last year on the project.
The purchase and renovation generated some controversy after Commissioners Paul Heltzel and James Tsagaris voted in late 2005 for the Park Porter building over Commissioner Dan Polivka's choice of the Gibson Building on East Market Street.
Polivka has vowed to monitor the project closely to ensure that it comes in at the estimated price.
Sekanick said he and David Zofko, the county's chief building official assigned to serve as project manager for the renovation, will meet later this week to discuss the bids before making a recommendation to the commissioners.
Sekanick said he is hopeful the bids will allow the project to remain on schedule so employees will be able to move into the building by the end of June.
Apparent low bids
The apparent low bidders were:
General contractor -- DSV Builders Inc., North Main Street, Niles, (recently of Deforest Road, Warren), 1,160,000.
Heating, ventilation and air conditioning -- York Mahoning Mechanical Contractors, Canfield Road, Youngstown, 678,700.
Plumbing -- Western Reserve Mechanical Inc., South Main Street, Niles, 58,189.
Electric -- W.T. Leone's Tri-Area Electric Co. Inc., Wayne Avenue, Youngstown, 498,120.
Fire protection -- North Coast Fire Protection Inc., North Park Avenue, Warren, 51,700.
In all, 39 companies offered bids for the work, including nine for the general contracting, eight for the mechanical, five for the electrical, six for the plumbing and four for the fire.
The one bid that came in more than 10 percent above the estimate was the heating, ventilation and air conditioning, Sekanick said. York Mahoning's low bid of 678,700 was considerably more than the estimate of 553,067. Tri-Area Electric's electrical bid of 498,120, however, was considerably less than the estimate of 681,908.
Alternate bids
Many of the companies offered what Sekanick called an alternate bid for installation of a freight elevator. Most of the bids came in at around 100,000 with DSV's bid being 89,100. Sekanick said officials will evaluate whether to include the freight elevator in the project after evaluating all of the project's costs.
Some companies also offered a price for a concealed cabling/power floor system that allows easy rewiring of electrical devices and an electronic door system. Bids for the power floor were around 500,000, and around 50,000 for the door system, Sekanick said, adding that the power floor is probably too expensive for this project.
Holko Enercon Inc. of Fowler and Durolast of Saginaw, Mich., are installing a new roof on the building at a cost of 166,300 after commissioners awarded that contract in November.
runyan@vindy.com