Town Hall renovation bids opened
Low bid $2.2+ million
By Caitlyn Kelleher Journal Reporter

Town Hall Building Committee members say they have enough money to accept the lowest bid for the project.

The committee met quickly and unofficially on Thursday, March 22, just over 24 hours after the project bids were accepted.

"This is just about where the bids had to come in," said Committee Chairman David Sargent.

M. O’Connor Contracting submitted the lowest base bid at $2,247,700. The company’s bid was also the lowest including the two alternatives — a chiller for the ventilation system at $89,000 and additional roof work at $48,000.

The only other bid came in from Eastern General Contractors at $2,310,000 with the two alternatives costing $74,000 and $38,000, respectively.

The state bid process requires alternatives be taken in order if they are used at all.

Voters approved $2.729 million for the project in 2005 and within that money the committee has to pay for the general bid, the architect, the project manager and other soft costs. Committee members also want to keep a small contingency fund in case there are unforeseen problems with the renovation.

Town officials opened the bids on Wednesday, March 21. Sargent said at 12:55 p.m. there was only a single bid, the one from Eastern General, and O’Connor’s bid arrived minutes before the 1 p.m. deadline.

Officials want to review the budget and ensure all of the requirements are met before issuing a letter of intent to work with O’Connor. The bids are good for 30 days after they are open, so the committee has until April 21 to make a decision.

O’Connor is a small company based in West Roxbury.

The committee has budgeted $100,000 for the windows to be restored as a separate part of the project. The bids for that job have not been solicited yet.

The committee is meeting with Town Administrator Kevin Paicos, architect Kaffee Kang, and other officials on Thursday, March 29, to discuss all of the details of the bids.