City Council rejected three bids that all came in higher than the budget for planned upgrades to athletic fields behind the high school on Madison Avenue.
The governing body met Tuesday night for a special meeting specifically to reject the three bids. Resolution AR-129-14 was approved by a 6-0 vote.
The city issued bids on May 1 and had three bidders return proposals on May 21, all higher than the original budget: Black Rock Enterprises in Old Bridge ($657,891), Edison-based V&K Construction ($563,658), and Sita Construction in Goshen, N.Y. ($406,428).
If new bids come in within budget, a contract should be awarded at the June 11 City Council meeting and the project would remain on schedule with completion this summer, according to City Administrator Cherron Rountree. New bids would be advertised May 28 and opened June 10.
The roughly $540,000 project is part of $3 million in park upgrades approved by City Council earlier this year. Softball fields as well as basketball and tennis courts located behind the high school would be upgraded as part of this plan. The project would receive $120,000 in county grants, $170,000 from the Board of Education and about $200,000 from the city.
I’m happy to see that the “Rahway Rising” is beginning to cover the upgrades/renovations reflected in the Rahway Schools. The district has seen so many great changes and I’m not sure why the blog site which prides itself on following the latest developments in town ignored it (ie RHS arts/science renovation, expansion of Grover Cleveland Elementary). I hope this work continues.
It’s a matter of resources since this is a one-person operation that I do in my off hours. No plans on expanding to education. Strictly covering redevelopment allows me to focus on that one topic rather than running around covering all aspects of town. Only so many hours in the evening. In this case, this project was mentioned in the mayor’s State of the City and City Council and Redevelopment Agency are the main meetings I try to get to.