New shower house, restroom facility at Mormon Trail gets $50K in additional relief funds

The Adair County supervisors granted $50,000 in additional American Rescue Plan Act money for a restroom and shower house facility to be placed at Mormon Trail County Park near Bridgewater after two bids for the project came in well over what was originally planned for.

Conservation Director Dominic Johnson told the board that the bids that came in totaled $175,000 and $197,000, respectively. The supervisors previously promised $125,000 in ARPA funds. Johnson said the bids reflect the total project, start to finish.

Supervisor John Twombly asked Johnson why there is a stark difference between the two bids received, but Johnson wasn’t exactly sure of an answer.

“We gave them bid specs and they bid to what we wanted,” Johnson said.

Supervisor Chair Matt Wedemeyer asked in Johnson wanted to re-bid, however Johnson wasn’t sure if anything would change by doing so.

Johnson said Caliber Concrete LLC of Adair had the high bid and Rod Dukes’ business Underground Specialty of Fontanelle had the low bid. Caliber completed the first shower house and restroom facility.

Supervisor Jodie Hoadley said that if one contractor has better access to concrete that should be considered, because other projects in the region are at a standstill because they’re waiting on concrete.

Wedemeyer considered whether or not this project will require more dirt work than the last one, which could increase cost, but Johnson thinks the higher bids are more a matter of rising costs across the entire project and building and construction industries.

Hoadley encouraged Johnson to go with Caliber because they’ve done the previous work, have a good reputation and might have better access to concrete, but Wedemeyer said he doesn’t want to pay more only for that reason.

Twombly asked Johnson whether he has more leeway in his department budget to cover some of the project, but Johnson said he doesn’t. A skid loader the supervisors put ARPA money toward ended up being more than originally planned too, however the conservation board plans to cover that difference.

The supervisors hoped that by giving $175,000 in all, that would at least cover the low bidder’s price for the project.

The conservation board has already reserved the pre-fabricated shower house and restroom facility, but no money had been put toward it by Wednesday’s meeting as the winning contractor will actually be the one purchasing the building.