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Youngstown picks higher bid for water tank contract
YOUNGSTOWN
Although All Industrial Services Inc. didn’t submit the lowest proposal to demolish an empty water tank on the city’s South Side, the board of control hired the Youngstown company for the work.
That’s because the 3 million-gallon water tank on Princeton Avenue is in a “very tight space” near houses with overhead power lines and a company with expertise in the work is needed, Gene Leson, the water department’s chief engineer, told board members Thursday before the vote.
Leson was responding to a question from Law Director Martin Hume, a board member, who said he received a call from All Excavating Co. of Youngstown, which turned in the lowest proposal, asking why it didn’t get the work.
All Excavating’s proposal was for $147,700. Moderalli Excavating of Poland had the second-lowest proposal at $164,290.
All Industrial was third lowest at $172,303. The city’s estimate for the work was $242,000.
One requirement of the contractor hired was it had to have demolished at least three water tanks in the past five years and All Industrial was the only one of the top five submitting proposals to meet that specification, Leson said.
The Princeton Avenue tank has been out of service for about three or four years, replaced by a 1.5-million-gallon tank in Boardman, he said.
Also Thursday, the board approved a $368,466 payment to MS Consultants of Youngstown to design and oversee the replacement of its largest and likely oldest sewer line.
The 84-inch line would be replaced by line of up to 120 inches in width. The existing line runs parallel to the Mahoning River between Phelps Street and South Avenue – between the Covelli Centre and the former Wean United Building property – and is more than 100 years old, said Charles Shasho, deputy director of the city’s public-works department.
The new line should be under construction next summer, he said, and will be located closer to the river. It’s been relocated as part of the city’s proposed riverwalk and amphitheater project, and because the existing line is in poor shape, Shasho said.
The cost estimate will be determined after the engineer’s design work is done, but should be about $4 million, he said.
The 84-inch line is the largest in the city, Shasho said.