By VICKI URBANIK

The Porter County Park Board moved forward with the demolition of the former residence of Col. Robert Murray on Thursday -- sort of.

An unusual glitch that raised a legal question prompted the park board to accept the low bidder but to consult with the bidder not selected to see if the scope of work could be altered to save money on what is now a $212,353 project.

The park board received two bids for the project, which includes demolition of the Murray house, dairy barn and silo, along with grading, asbestos removal and underground storage tank removal. The low bid, from Chem Chek Inc., was about $10,157 less than the other bid from G.E. Marshall, Inc.

After Porter County Parks Superintendent Ed Melendez presented the recommendation from the board’s building committee to go with the low bid, a representative from the other bidder, Frank Marshall, objected. He said because of the way the bid specifications were written, the total price ended up higher than it needed to be.

Marshall said the county could save at least $50,000 by altering the scope of the work. He said he’s never seen a house demolition project cost as much as what’s called for in the specifications. Marshall said he wasn’t raising his concerns because he wanted to win the contract, but that he was speaking as a Porter County taxpayer. “I’d like to see the county save 50 grand,” he said.

Park Board attorney Dave Hollenbeck said under the law, the park board can negotiate to try to lower the bid price only with the low bidder. He said that the board can’t simply alter the bid specifications at this point. He said the county’s consultant that drew up the specs, the DLZ firm, would have to review what changes Marshall would propose. If the low bidder doesn’t agree with the changes, the project could have to be re-bid.

Under the bid specifications, the park board was to award the bid by April 17. Park Board member David Canright said it appears that revisiting the bid specification could jeopardize the timeline and risk having to re-bid the project, without any guarantee that the project would result in a savings.

Hollenbeck agreed that if the low bidder doesn’t agree to the changes, it could always withdraw its bid.

Melendez said the bid totals were far below previous estimates, which put the total cost at more than $500,000.

Low Bid Accepted

At Hollenbeck’s recommendation, the park board agreed to accept the low bid, but to direct him and Melendez to meet with Marshall and DLZ to see what could be changed to lower the price, and then see if Chem Check would agree to the changes.

If that’s not feasible, then the low bid will stand.

Farmland Leased

In another matter Thursday, the park board approved a cash rental agreement for its Pine Township property that used to be a state prison farm. A farmer who is renting the land will pay the park board $145 per acre, or a total of $6,815, to farm the property. The amount is a “substantial increase” over what the park board previously received, Hollenbeck said. He thanked park board member Todd Hutson for alerting the board to the fact that it could be getting much more from the farm lease.

Festival Request Tabled

Also Thursday, the park board tabled action on a request from Ian Echterling to hold a musical festival at Sunset Hill Farm County Park in May. Echterling told the board that he is in the process of starting a new musical production company and that the would like to host musical festivals, with part of the proceeds going to charitable endeavors and some of the proceeds returned to the park department. He requested a waiver of the rental fees for use of the park.

Canright said the request put the park board in an awkward position. Before the board hears such a request, the park staff should have developed a recommendation, he said.

He called for consistency among how non-profits are treated when it comes to rentals and said there may be a need for the park board to set a new policy for cooperative projects like the one envisioned by Echterling.

As it is now, though, other non-profits that use the park are charged a rental fee.

Posted 4/4/2008