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Council awards bids for Ellsworth City Hall Rebuild

Lead Summary
,
By
Mavis Fodness

Ellsworth City Council will conduct a special meeting Sept. 23 to consider bids for a new city hall and maintenance building.
The meeting begins at 7 p.m.
Eight interested construction companies submitted bids by the Sept. 5 deadline, and council members met in special session to open bids the same day.
The large number of competing bids surprised architect Jeff Nelson with Falls Architecture Studio in Sioux Falls.
“I can’t tell you when I have had eight bids on anything,” he said. “We certainly had a lot of bidders.”
The council called for three separate bids for a city hall, community recreation center and maintenance shop.
City hall bids ranged from $874,000 to $1.24 million for a 3,583-square-foot wood-framed structure to be located where the former 115-year-old city hall once stood. The new hall plans include a 1,689-square-foot community room and kitchen.
Recreation center bids ranged from $1.006 million to $1.258 million for a 60- by 125-foot pre-engineered structure attached to the city hall. A fire wall would separate the two structures.
Maintenance shop bids ranged from $419,000 to $564,200 for the 48-by-70-foot structure. The shop would be built on a bare lot next to the city’s existing fire station on the southeast edge of town.
Construction timeframe ranged from 180 to 365 days for the city hall and recreation center. Companies indicated 90 to 275 days to build the city shop.
Nelson told council members after the Sept. 5 bid opening he will verify bid numbers with contractors and determine what elements drove costs higher than anticipated.
At the regular Sept. 9 council meeting, council members tabled a decision to award bids on the three projects.
At an Aug. 29 public information meeting, Nelson and council members outlined each project and the potential budget.
The city has more than $1.5 million in available funds for the new city hall and maintenance shop.
This includes insurance claims up to $687,000 toward rebuilding the city hall and maintenance shop.
It also includes $470,000 in reserves and $280,000 from the 2010 sale of the city-owned liquor store, grants totaling $10,000 and a certificate of deposit for $134,000.
The recreation center would be a community fundraising effort with possible funds appropriated from the state legislature.
A community meeting conducted in March brought forth the desire for a recreation center.
The city hall and maintenance shop was destroyed in a Jan. 15 fire.

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