HEBRON | Instead of trying to figure out which streets it can afford to do, the council decided it can't afford not to do them all.
And a whole lot more.
The town plans to borrow about $1 million to repair and repave 24 streets, install a new lift station on Monroe Street, perform needed maintenance on a couple of wellheads at the water plant and add some ultraviolet light for bacteria treatment at the town's sewage treatment plant.
When the road paving bids were opened last month, the low bids were about $560,000 to do all the streets, but council President Don Ensign said he expected the town to spend $150,000 to $200,000. When the price of asphalt increased $8 a ton July 1 and the town was told another increase would come Aug. 1, everything changed.
"Many of the streets have not been touched in 35 years," Ensign said after Tuesday's council meeting. "Some of them have to be mowed because they are in such bad shape the grass is growing through the cracks."
Councilman Pete Breuckman said streets that might be used as the detour for traffic to get around the Main Street construction project being done by the state should be removed from the list. He had reason for concern as McAlpin Street is one that has to be rebuilt as a result of heavy trucks using it as a detour during last year's work.
The council voted to award the paving contract to Town & Country Paving, of DeMotte, which actually was the third lowest of the five bids at $566,000, but the council was satisfied with the company's past work. Their bid was only $14,000 higher than the lowest bid. Ensign said the rising oil prices had already increased the cost by about $43,000 and could add another $40,000 if the town delayed.
Bids for the lift station were opened at Tuesday's meeting, and the low bidder was H & G Underground Utilities LLC, of LaPorte, at $281,837. The other two bids exceeded $410,000, but the worst of it was the town had an estimate from InfraSource Underground Construction, of Ypsilanti, Mich., a year ago to do the work for about $83,000.
Ensign said InfraSource, which bid $475,500 this time, was doing work for the state as part of the Main Street project when it made the offer to do the lift station while it already had its equipment in the town. The company said it would cost $110,000 if it had to come back.
The work at the water plant and the sewer plant will cost about $100,000, and Ensign said the town hopes to get all the projects under way while it goes through the bonding process, which he said should take about 60 days.
