City sets new deadline for water, sewer bids

By By Fredie Carmichael / staff writer
March 3, 2004
Meridian has a new deadline of 2 p.m. March 29 to receive bids for construction of water and sewer service to the Interstate 20/59 Industrial Park.
The initial bid process was complicated when the engineering firm the city hired to oversee the project made a typographical error when it misstated the deadline in one of the original bid documents.
City officials originally thought the error would delay construction for up to three months. Mayor John Robert Smith said Tuesday that speedy work by city staffers has cut the delay to about 11⁄2 months.
Councilmen voted last week in a special meeting to re-bid the project after they learned about the engineering firm's error. They had hoped to award the construction contract last month.
The $3.1 million project will be funded with a $1.5 million grant from the Economic Development Administration and $1.6 million from the city. The grant requires the job to be completed by Sept. 26, 2005.
Wallace Heggie, the city's purchasing agent, said his office and other city staffers worked hard to speed up the bid process after councilmen decided to re-bid the project.
Ward 1 Councilman George Thomas said with the city staffers' quick work, councilmen should be able to hire a construction company for the job by their first meeting in April.
In Other Matters
The Meridian City Council took the following actions at its Tuesday meeting:
Reappointed Fred Wile to another five-year term to the Meridian School Board.
Hired Meridian-based Luke &Kaye Architects to design construction plans for repairing the roof at City Hall.