ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — During the regular St. John’s city council meeting on Monday, routine bid approvals for roadwork highlighted a council that showed perhaps more concern than usual with its budget allocations.
The capital city has allocated $12.6 million for roadwork this year, and on Monday a bid approval for much of that work spurred discussion on spending.
While city council unanimously approved the $7,098,017.35 bid by Pyramid Construction to complete roadwork on city streets over the next eight months, for a short while it looked like the approval might get deferred.
Coun. Ian Froude suggested deferring the approval because council is considering items in its capital budget that might not be necessary, and wondered if there could be a further prioritization of streets listed for repairs.
However, deputy city manager Jason Sinyard said retendering might mean a month-long delay, some roadwork not getting completed and legal implications in terms of repackaging the tender when bid prices for the original tender are now known.
The motion to defer was lost, and council approved the bid.
“There has been discussion about whether council should push off or deprioritize projects in the capital budget,” Froude explained in an email to The Telegram after the council meeting.
“The grind and patch funds come from the capital out of revenue budget. My perspective was that if we are discussing the project list as a whole with an eye to savings, then today we should have deferred the discussion regarding grind and patch to that broader discussion.
“Staff could have come back with a potentially pared-down list of higher priority roads work (sic) so that the total funding amount would be lower. Essentially, if we are prioritizing the spending, the tender decision today should have been a part of that.”
Mayor Danny Breen told The Telegram that council will look at updating the capital budget fairly soon at a committee of the whole meeting.
He said council will consider expenditures that can be deferred or delayed in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re monitoring this financial situation on a daily basis. It’s certainly unprecedented, and it’s challenging in that we don’t know when it’s going to end, and we don’t know what the outcome will be. But what we do know is that the city will be very challenged into the future,” Breen said.
“What we want to be able to do is obviously get through this, and we’re concerned about the impact on the city’s finances, and want to make sure that we’re in a position to be able to offer people the services that they require.”
The City of St. John’s Annual Streets Rehabilitation Program is underway from May to late fall 2020. Roads and...
Posted by City of St. John's on Thursday, May 21, 2020
Kenmount Road upgrades approved
Other roadwork-related bids approved on Monday included a contract for Phase 2 of the Kenmount Road storm sewer upgrades, awarded to Weir’s Construction for $4,623,766.13. That work is expected to be substantially completed on or before Nov. 30.
Infinity Construction got the contract to replace damaged sidewalks throughout the city with a $904,769.98 bid, an estimate for a three-year period.
Farrell’s Excavating got the contract to repair and replace damaged guardrails in the city with a $101,085 bid.
Twitter: @juanitamercer_
