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By Richard Kerns
rkerns@newstribune.info
Tribune Staff Writer
KEYSER – After downsizing a heating and air-conditioning upgrade at City Hall for lack of funding, the city of Keyser is now expanding the project because a second round of bids came in lower than expected, freeing up funds for additional work.
The HVAC upgrade dates to the previous administration of former Mayor William “Sonny” Rhodes, which secured about $75,000 for the work as part of a federal “green” initiative to install more energy-efficient heating and cooling systems in public buildings.
After retaining a design firm for $5,500, the city put out bids for replacement of HVAC systems on both the first and second floors of City Hall. Bids for that work, which were received shortly after last summer's election of current Mayor Randy Amtower, were far above budget, however, and with the city unwilling to add any local funding to the grant money, the proposals were rejected. The City Council then decided to seek a scaled-back project focused on the first floor only.
Aside from a conference room used mainly for law enforcement training programs, the upstairs offices are primarily used for storage.
Amtower approached the firm that designed the original upgrade, seeking a cut-rate price on the scaled back work. When that firm came back and asked the city for another $4,200 for the redesign – for total design costs of almost $10,000, or more than 10 percent of the grant funding – the mayor just said no.
“I fired 'em,” Amtower said at this month's Council meeting.
With the grant funding still available, city officials invited interested contractors to tour City Hall and submit bids for the first-floor work. Only two firms participated, with Royal Aire, located in Keyser just across the street from City Hall, submitting the low bid of just under $39,000 to upgrade the downstairs systems.
While pleasantly surprised with the bid, city officials did not want to leave the remaining $30,000 in grant funding on the table for the feds to retrieve. Amtower contacted officials at Region 8 – which administers the grant – and they gave the city permission to revise the project to include some upstairs work, which will allow the city to make full use of the grant.
“It's a grant we went after and the money's been allocated,” Amtower said, in describing the bid process at the last Council meeting. “I feel, use as much of it as we can get.”
By Richard Kerns
rkerns@newstribune.info
Tribune Staff Writer
KEYSER – After downsizing a heating and air-conditioning upgrade at City Hall for lack of funding, the city of Keyser is now expanding the project because a second round of bids came in lower than expected, freeing up funds for additional work.
The HVAC upgrade dates to the previous administration of former Mayor William “Sonny” Rhodes, which secured about $75,000 for the work as part of a federal “green” initiative to install more energy-efficient heating and cooling systems in public buildings.
After retaining a design firm for $5,500, the city put out bids for replacement of HVAC systems on both the first and second floors of City Hall. Bids for that work, which were received shortly after last summer's election of current Mayor Randy Amtower, were far above budget, however, and with the city unwilling to add any local funding to the grant money, the proposals were rejected. The City Council then decided to seek a scaled-back project focused on the first floor only.
Aside from a conference room used mainly for law enforcement training programs, the upstairs offices are primarily used for storage.
Amtower approached the firm that designed the original upgrade, seeking a cut-rate price on the scaled back work. When that firm came back and asked the city for another $4,200 for the redesign – for total design costs of almost $10,000, or more than 10 percent of the grant funding – the mayor just said no.
“I fired 'em,” Amtower said at this month's Council meeting.
With the grant funding still available, city officials invited interested contractors to tour City Hall and submit bids for the first-floor work. Only two firms participated, with Royal Aire, located in Keyser just across the street from City Hall, submitting the low bid of just under $39,000 to upgrade the downstairs systems.
While pleasantly surprised with the bid, city officials did not want to leave the remaining $30,000 in grant funding on the table for the feds to retrieve. Amtower contacted officials at Region 8 – which administers the grant – and they gave the city permission to revise the project to include some upstairs work, which will allow the city to make full use of the grant.
“It's a grant we went after and the money's been allocated,” Amtower said, in describing the bid process at the last Council meeting. “I feel, use as much of it as we can get.”
