Colfax awards low bid of $348,815 for Cedar Street
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — Colfax has been making steady progress on street projects in recent years, and this year’s street project will be Cedar Street.
The Colfax Village Board awarded the low bid for the Cedar Street project, from West River Street to West Railroad Avenue, to Skid Steer Guy LLC in the amount of $348,815 at the March 27 meeting.
Four bids were received for Cedar Street ranging from $348,815 to $419,827, said Gareth Shambeau, a civil engineer with Ayres Associates.
The bids for the Colfax project fell within the estimate, he said.
Other bids this year on projects Ayres has engineered, however, have consistently been 25 to 35 percent higher than the estimates, Shambeau said.
The start date for the Cedar Street project will be right after Memorial Day, and then the contractor will have all summer to finish the job, he said.
The other bids received were $386,099 from McCabe Construction, $419,171 from A1 Excavating, and $419,827 from Haas Sons.
Gary Stene, village trustee, commented that in years past, a street the length of Cedar Street could be reconstructed for a little over $100,000.
Usually inflation on street projects is 4 percent to 6 percent per year, but the last few years, inflation has been 15 to 25 percent per year, Shambeau said.
Streets were costing $400 to $500 per foot, but now $800 to $900 per foot is the going rate for a block of street, he said.
The cost of water mains has been the biggest increase. Construction companies had trouble getting ductile iron water mains last year, so many switched to PVC, and maybe that’s a problem with supply and demand, Shambeau said.
The Colfax Village Board unanimously approved awarding the low bid of $348,815 to Skid Steer Guy LLC out of Mondovi for the Cedar Street project.
Voting in favor of the motion were Village President Jody Albricht and Village Trustees Margaret Burcham, Carey Davis, Anne Jenson, Jeff Prince, Jen Rud and Gary Stene.
Skid Steer Guy has submitted the low bid for other Colfax street projects in recent years, including the Riverview/High Street project and the Dunn Street project.
Other business
In other business, the Colfax Village Board:
• Approved a bartender operator’s license for Brittany Sonnenberg (A Little Slice of Italy) from March 27 to June 30, 2023.
• Awarded a two-year contract to Don’s Sweeper Service for street sweeping in the amount of $8,460 per year plus an hourly rate of $155 for additional street sweeping.
• Approved a donation of $2,000 for the Dunn County Economic Development Corporation for 2023. In response to a question, Stene said DCEDC had helped the village and had worked with Timber Technologies, Anderson Bridges and A Little Slice of Italy.