In a stroke of luck for the city’s budget, Perry will manage to get both halves of the new Pattee Park soccer complex for the price of one.
The Perry City Council accepted a highly competitive bid Tuesday from Polk City-based Spring Lake Construction that came in $100,000 below the city engineer’s estimate of $424,000 for the main portion of the soccer complex.
The savings on the main portion — called the “base bid” — was nearly enough to cover Spring Lake’s bid on the secondary portion — called “add alternate 1” — so the council decided to let the contracts for both parts of the project to Spring Lake at a total cost of $451,000, just $27,000 more than the engineer’s estimate for the base bid alone.
“We’re pleased we got so many bids this time around,” said Perry City Administrator Sven Peterson. “A lot of that is due to Matt (Ferrier, the city’s engineering consultant with Bolton and Menk Inc.) and Josh (Shields, the Bolton and Menk engineer leading the Pattee Park project) working overtime to let people know about the project.”
Shields reviewed the project during the public hearing prior to the council’s resolution. He said the base bid and add alternate 1 bid will cover everything but the 10-foot-wide concrete path around the complex and the southern half of the granular-surface parking lot.
In a move reflecting the city’s commitment both to efficiency and sustainability, Peterson said the 60-block street resurfacing project planned for the summer will also benefit the soccer complex’s parking lot.
“The bid is only for the north half of (the parking lot),” Peterson said. “But the size of that parking lot is pretty much going to be based on how many loads of millings we get from the overlay project. We’ll be able to use what would have been the waste from the overlay milling of the roads as the parking lot surface. The timing of that project really worked out very well for the city.”
The council was pleased at the cost savings brought by Spring Lake Construction’s bid.
“They’re being very aggressive on their price,” said council member Dr. Randy McCaulley. “They must really want the job.”
Shields also assured the council of the Polk City company’s solid reputation.
“Matt and I have both talked with the bonding agent to make sure everything was on the up and up with them,” Shields said, “and we also got references and feel pretty satisfied with previous work they’ve done.”
Phase I of the project included a buffer strip and retention pond. Perry was awarded $100,000 in matching funds from the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) program to pay for the phase I pond and buffer.
Shields said the pond would be deeper than 10 feet and fed by ground water, making it suitable for fishing. It would not be fenced but planted round with 3-foot to 4-foot native vegetation, he said. The project should be completed by Oct. 31.
“Depending on construction, you’d probably be looking at fall seeding,” Shields said. “You could potentially do some light on it in the spring, but it would probably be the following autumn. So it would probably be in 2017, probably September or October.”
Plans for the soccer complex were first unveiled in August 2014. The Perry Soccer Club immediately donated $10,000 toward the soccer field portion of the Pattee Park complex, with the Hotel Pattee adding another $5,000 to the fund. Tyson Fresh Meats in Perry donated $100,000 toward the project last summer.
