OCEAN CITY – Bids to construct the new 1st Street Water Tank, beach ball and all, come in with a low discrepancy between design costs.
This week the Mayor and City Council opened three bids to construct the 1st Street Elevated Water Tank project.
A couple of weeks ago, the Mayor and City Council voted to alter the 1st Street Elevated Water Tank bid package that had already been sent out to add a cost estimate to paint the tower into a beach ball design.
The council’s vote was prompted by the interest of multiple parties, such as the Downtown Association and Jim Motsko of the White Marlin Open, to change the logo that is currently included in the bid package from the “standard logo” that reads “Welcome to Ocean City, Thank You for Visiting Ocean City”. The standard logo can be seen on the 64th Street and 136th Street water tanks.
The council wanted to investigate the current cost of a beach ball design. However, when the idea was first brought up by former Councilman Buck Mann about 20 years ago, the custom paint job alone would have cost the town at least $50,000 at that time.
Last week Public Works Director Hal Adkins returned before the Mayor and City Council presenting several potential designs reflecting different positions and color schemes, with or without a water splash at the base, and with or without the Town of Ocean City’s iconic logo.
The council agreed with Adkins in choosing an upright beach ball position with a blue, white and green beach ball, Ocean City’s emblem in the center, and a water splash at the base.
On Tuesday, the much anticipated bids for the 1st Street Elevated Water Tank project were brought forward to review what the cost would be today. The project is to be funded by a Bond Issuance in the late fall of 2015 and was factored into the recent Rate Resolution at an anticipated cost of $4,500,000.
The first bid was from CBI out of Newcastle, Del. The total bid for the standard logo was $4,919,330, and the total bid for the beach ball scheme was $4,929,330, which is a difference of $10,000.
The next bid was from Caldwell Tanks out of Louisville, Ky. The total bid for the standard logo was $5,126,000, and the total bid for the beach ball scheme was $5,199,000, which is a difference of $73,000.
The final bid was from Bearing Construction out of Sudlersville. The total bid for the standard logo was $5,011,282, and the total bid for the beach ball scheme was $5,084,282, which is also a difference of $73,000.
The Mayor and City Council voted unanimously to recognize the apparent low bidder of CBI and remanded the bid response to staff for review and comment prior to making a final decision.
“When are we going to have our new beach ball water tower?,” asked Council Secretary Mary Knight, indicating the favored design.
According to Public Works Director Hal Adkins, if all goes according to plan the 1st Street Elevated Water Tank will be completed by summer of 2017.
“The parking lot it is going to be built on is extremely low revenue producing, and by removing the one on Worcester St. we are actually gaining 30 additional parking spaces there along with the revenue, so we are anticipating starting as early as the last week in August if not the first two weeks in September,” Adkins said.
In February, the Mayor and City Council were presented with a five-year water and wastewater plan that called for the elimination of the elevated water towers on Worcester and 15th streets, and replacing these downtown fixtures with a new single water tower at a town-owned property on 1st Street and St. Louis Avenue.