Bids Come In Above Estimate on Workman Complex

Effingham Park District officials plan to huddle to see how to proceed after bids came in over the engineer's estimated cost for construction of the Richard E. Workman Sports and Wellness Complex.

In the meantime, bidders had to be notified by phone shortly after the opening when it was discovered that one bid was incorrectly read.

Poettker Construction of Breese's bid was read as $14,342,000. However, a "6" was misread as a "4" and the bid was found to actually be $16,342,000.

That made Grunloh Builders of Effingham the apparent low bidder at $16,019,000. However, Grunloh's bid arrived after the 2pm deadline, something Park Board President David McDevitt said was noted by several of the contractors present on time for the bid opening. Eight bids were received on the project.

The chain of events leaves the Park Board with several things to consider; chief among them the fact the estimated cost of the Workman Complex was $12.5 million, meaning Grunloh's bid is $3.5 million over the estimate and the Poettker bid is almost $4 million over the estimate.

Architect Greg Grunloh of Holabird and Root said the provisions of his contract include a stipulation that if bids came in more than five percent over the estimate, his firm would redesign the project to accommodate the overage. How to bring down the cost is another consideration; whether to eliminate some items or to pare them back.

Once the adjustments are made to the plans, though, McDevitt asked rhetorically, "Then do we re-bid the project?", adding, "There are several things to consider."

Despite Tuesday's developments, McDevitt said, "The Park District has not given up on this project."

The Park Board has 60 days to decide how to proceed. That would give them time to discuss the options at their July Board meeting and then reach a decision at their August meeting on whether to award the bid, modify the scope of the project, or rebid the work.