Colfax contracts with Ayres Associates for Flexible Facilities $4.25 million grant application
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Editor’s Note: LeAnn R. Ralph serves on the Colfax Elevator Commission
By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — The Colfax Village Board has selected Ayres Associates to write the application for the $4.25 million Flexible Facilities Program grant to install an elevator in the Colfax Municipal Building and to renovate the basement.
The village received three requests for proposals to write the grant application: Cedar Corporation for $7,000; Ayres Associates for $5,700; and an indication from the West Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission that WCWRPC would not be able to follow through with the project to completion, said Lynn Niggemann, village administrator-clerk-treasurer, at the May 28 Colfax Village Board meeting.
If WCWRPC provided a bid amount to write the grant application, Niggemann did not discuss the amount with the village board.
Ayres and Cedar Corp would be able to write the grant application, administer the grant and follow through on the construction until the project is completed, she said.
The village board will want to have the company hired to write the grant application “to do all of it,” Niggemann said.
The Flexible Facilities Program grant is for up to $4.25 million and is funded through the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Capital Projects Fund, which was established through the American Rescue Plan of 2021.
The minimum criteria is that the project must include constructing a new or renovating or expanding an existing library, community center or multi-purpose community facility, and the purchase and/or installation of broadband and/or other digital connectivity technology that provide public access to high speed internet, and directly enable work, education and health monitoring, according www.energyandhousing.wi.gov.
Eligible facilities include libraries, senior citizen centers, youth centers and general community centers.
The Flexible Facilities grant, unlike most other grant programs, does not require any matching funds.
The applications are due no later than 2 p.m. July 11, 2024.
Awards of the grants are anticipated to be made no later than October 1, 2024.
Grant administration
In addition to the differences in the amount for writing the grant application, there were also differences in the amount that Ayres Associates and Cedar Corporation would charge as a percentage of the construction contract for grant administration.
Cedar Corp would charge 13 percent of the construction cost, and Ayres would charge between 6 percent and 8 percent, Niggemann said.
If the Colfax Municipal Building project is $2 million, for example, Ayres would charge between $120,000 and $160,000 for grant administration, and Cedar Corp would charge $260,000, she said, noting that the difference between the two is $100,000.
Recommendation
At a previous meeting, the village board had authorized Niggemann to make a recommendation on which proposal to accept.
Niggemann said she had “feelings both ways.”
Cedar Corp produced the initial schematic design for the elevator project, installing bathrooms on all three floors and renovating the basement, and representatives from Cedar Corp have been coming to the building and touring the building to talk about ideas for renovation, she said.
The Colfax Elevator Commission had been exploring the possibility of Community Development Block Grant funds for the elevator project and renovation of the basement, but Cedar Corp ended up not being very responsive, and “it was not a successful experience,” Niggemann said.
On the other hand, Niggemann said, while she has worked with Ayres Associates extensively on street projects in Colfax, she has never worked with Ayres on a building project.
If the village board is going to look strictly at cost, then Niggemann said she would recommend Ayres Associates.
Readers should take note that at the time the elevator commission first started exploring the idea of a CDBG grant, which on a $1 million project would have required $500,000 in matching funds, was at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
One of the people from Cedar Corp working on the project lost a significant other/spouse to Covid-19, and before the pandemic was over, another person had retired.
In addition, the village had just received CDBG funds for the lagoon project to stabilize the bank to keep the Red Cedar River from washing out the Colfax wastewater treatment lagoons.
A municipality must wait two years to apply for another round of CDBG funds. The lagoon bank project also was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, so that extended the waiting time for being able to apply for more CDBG funds.
Low bid
Anne Jenson, village trustee, said perhaps the village board should assess the proposals on the lowest bid.
There would have to be justified reasons for not going with the low bid, Niggemann said.
Ayres Associates provided the low bid for the grant application, and Ayres would charge a smaller amount for the grant administration, she said.
The project would also include development of the design and the construction documents to take the project through completion, Niggemann said.
Several village board members had questions about the schematic drawings that Cedar Corporation had provided and whether those documents could be used in the current grant application.
Niggemann said she assumed the village had paid for the schematic drawings for the municipal building project.
The Colfax Municipal Building Restoration Group and the Colfax Public Library paid for the schematic drawings, and the cost was around $5,000, said Mark Johnson, who was in the audience for the village board meeting and is a member of the Colfax Elevator Commission.
Niggemann said she had verified with Ayres Associates that the company would not charge an additional amount to update the cost for the construction project that is depicted by the schematic drawings from Cedar Corporation.
The drawings from Cedar Corp were produced in 2018, and the cost for the project at that time was estimated at $700,000.
Construction costs are estimated to increase by 10 percent for every year a project is delayed, and since it has been five years, what would have cost $700,000 in 2018 would have increased by about $350,000, for a total cost today of $1.05 million — or perhaps more, since construction costs increased by more than 10 percent during the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the Colfax Village Board’s May 12 meeting, Cory Scheidler of Cedar Corporation noted that since the grant is for $4.25 million, it would make sense to expand somewhat on the original plans for the municipal building.
Unanimous
The Colfax Village Board unanimously approved contracting with Ayres Associates to write the application for the Flexible Facilities Program grant.
The $5,700 will come from the elevator fund, which is a restricted fund kept by the village.
“Restricted” means the money cannot be used for anything other than the stated purpose.
The Colfax Elevator Commission has been raising funds for the past five or six years and now has nearly $150,000 in donations and pledges for the elevator fund.
Voting in favor of the motion were Village President Jeff Prince and Village Trustees Clint Best, Margaret Burcham, Carey Davis, Anne Jenson and Jen Rud.
Village Trustee Gary Stene was absent from the meeting.