Stettler’s town council has approved the tenders for a pair of capital projects during their most recent meeting.
Meeting on July 19, council received tenders to repaint the town’s water reservoir and replace some sidewalks in the community.
This is the second attempt at getting the water reservoir painted. Council initially approved the project in 2021 with a $50,000 budget. The project was subsequently awarded to AlumaSafway with a bid of just over $41,000.
The company was unable to get the project completed before the temperatures dropped and completing the project in winter conditions would have been extra cost which resulted in the project ultimately being postponed to the summer of 2022.
In May 2022, AlumaSafway requested an increase in expenditure due to price increases which resulted in the cost escalating to around $100,000. Town administration had attempted to negotiate a more reasonable price for the work and recommended that council cancel the tender.
Council canceled the tender during the June 7 council meeting, after which administration sought new quotes for the work.
Two quotes were received for the work, one from AG Creations for $37,000 and another from United Supreme Group for just under $450,000. Both companies are from Calgary.
According to chief administrative officer (CAO) Greg Switenky, the second tender accounts for up to $200,000 of concrete repair, should it be needed.
Switenky further noted when researching AG Creations, he found that they had very positive references and do a lot of concrete painting in the Calgary area.
“They show up on time, clean up, and move on,” said Switenky.
Both tenders included using very similar paint and process, and that being the case suggested awarding the tender to AG Creations for $37,000 with a $13,000 contingency.
Council awarded the tender to AG Creations.
The second set of tenders reviewed by council were for sidewalk repair.
Stettler council has a policy to budget up to $130,000 per year to “replace miscellaneous sections of concrete throughout the town” to ensure they don’t become tripping or other types of hazards.
The town received two tenders for this work as well, one from Wetaskiwin-based Jo’s Concrete Service Ltd for $112,160 and a second from Stettler-based Hadley Contracting for 123,850.
According to Melissa Robbins, the Town of Stettler’s director of operations, the town has worked with Jo’s before as recently as 2019 and due to the price difference were recommending that company for the tender.
Robbins also requested that council approve expenditure up to the full $130,000 budget allocated for the work to see what else they could get done.
Council approved both recommendations.