Tuesday, April 19, 2011
YOUNGSTOWN
Eight of the 12 companies seeking to demolish the former Weatherbee Coat Factory building and clean up the site had mistakes with their proposals.
However, that’s an improvement compared with when the city sought contractors for the same work in February. During the first effort, only one valid proposal, for $524,573, out of 13 was submitted to the city. Because of the problems, the city chose to seek new proposals.
The city’s board of control approved contracts Monday with three companies to remove asbestos from the building, to demolish it and to clean up potentially damaged soil at the site.
During the first attempt to hire a company for this work, nine companies had proposals that were incomplete, had prices listed in the wrong places and had math errors. Also, three were disqualified because they were submitted after the deadline.
This has been an ongoing problem for city project proposals the past couple of years.
“Because of the previous problems, the city engineering department prepared a step-by-step procedure for filling out the bidding applications,” said Charles Shasho, deputy director of the city’s public works department. “We mentioned the past problems. Even so, there were still some of the same mistakes. It gets frustrating when people make the same mistakes after we spelled it out for them.”
On Monday, the city hired C. Crump of Youngstown for the demolition work for $162,550. Daniel A. Terreri & Sons Inc. of North Jackson will remove asbestos from the structure for $32,000, and Environmental Management of Cleveland will clean up the soil for $64,900.
The second effort reduced the total cost of the work to $259,450.
The city has a $553,560 state grant for this project.
Valley Foods is expanding its operations to that location at 439-461 E. Federal St.
The work will start shortly and be done in four months.
Also Monday, the board of control hired Thomas Pallotta & Sons of Youngstown to repave and do other improvement work to Market Street between Williamson and Woodland avenues, a little over a mile, for $623,023.28. That was the lowest of five proposals for the work.
There will be lane restrictions during the project, which should start within a month and take four months to complete, Shasho said. It also will complete a four-year effort to repave Market Street from the city’s southern limit to the Market Street Bridge, he said.