Posted on March 11, 2019
Richard Payerchin – The Morning Journal
The city of Lorain will seek another round of bids for a project that will transform mounds of piled slag to a green belt along the Black River.
Meanwhile, the city also is seeking a consultant to help design and operate a facility that will reuse sediment dredged from the bottom of Lorain’s main waterway.
The projects are separate, but both deal with the Black River and its environs and both are developing in late winter.
Riverbank restoration
The city will rebid a job for an earth-moving contractor to sculpt new slopes and bury mounds of slag, the steelmaking byproduct that has been stockpiled for years along the Black River between the riverbank and the steel mills.
The project will involve removing or burying more than 100,000 cubic yards of material and bringing in new topsoil that will allow growth of plants.
It’s expected to cost more than $6.72 million.
The city will pay for the work with money from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, coming from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes National Program Office.
It is the capstone of restoration work paid for with a $15 million grant for Lorain, first announced in 2015, said Kate Golden, storm water manager in Lorain’s Engineering Department.
Although the contract paperwork is delayed due to rebidding, the city staff and consultants believe the actual work can be completed by the original Sept. 30 deadline, Golden said.
Five companies bid on the project, with job estimates ranging from about $4.2 million to $7.6 million, according to city records from the Feb. 22 bid opening.
On March 1, the Lorain Board of Control, made up of Mayor Chase Ritenauer and Safety-Service Director Dan Given, voted to award the job to Mark Haynes Construction Inc.
But March 5, they voted to rescind that project contract.
Once they voted on the contract, another responding bidder came forward with some valid points about his interpretation of the bidding process, Given said.
Consulting with the city Law Department, the administration and staff acknowledged there was a “gray area” in the documents, he said.
“Once this is done, we will also be throwing out all bids, cleaning up the contract language and rebidding so that there is clear standards for everyone to appropriately respond,” Given said.
The city will rebid the project, which will be advertised on or about March 14, with a tentative bid due date April 5, Golden said.
Due to the size of the project and money associated, the work involves more than just the city of Lorain, Golden said.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is answerable to Congress for the project, so everything must be done correctly.
“We need to be sure that the contract we’re awarding is awarded to the lowest and most qualified firm, because it’s in the best interest of the city, it’s in the best interest of the state and it’s in the best interest of the federal government,” Golden said. “We were concerned about legal repercussions if we were to move forward under the original bidded contract.
“We can’t afford to have this go south on us.”
Dredge facility
The city also is seeking qualifications from firms that could operate a new facility that reuses material dredged out of the Black River to maintain the river’s shipping channel.
The project is needed because every two to five years, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers oversees dredging the Black River.
In the past, the dredged material was dumped into Lake Erie, but in 2020, that will not be allowed due to effects on lake water quality.
It makes sense to involve an operator now who can consult on creating a facility so it is reasonable to operate and maintain, Golden said.
A potential operator would need to be familiar with a number of issues, including obtaining the appropriate government permits, drying dredge material and handling it once it is blended to create a reusable product, she said.
The qualifications from interested firms are due March 15.
The city checklist for responding firms is posted at cityoflorain.org.
Once the qualifications are in, the project is expected to develop through the remainder of 2019, with preliminary design in fall, detailed design by May 2020 and construction starting in June next year, according to a tentative schedule.
Source: morningjournal.com
