Wellington North council has awarded a contract for the James Street reconstruction project in Mount Forest to Moorefield Excavating Ltd. at a cost of $1.48 million.
The tender results were presented to council on March 27.
The project includes the reconstruction of James Street (from Queen Street to North Water Street), construction of a watermain on Durham Street (between Henry and Queen streets), and resurfacing of portions of Main Street (between Queen and King streets).
The James Street portion is a full reconstruction to upgrade the road to a full urban section (with curbs and gutters) and include work on the sanitary sewer, story sewer and watermain.
The project received three bids:
– Moorefield Excavating Ltd at $1,482,001;
– Cedarwell Excavating Ltd at $1,556,239; and
– Drexler Construction Limited at $1,646,729.
CAO Mike Givens said it is expected to be Moorefield Excavating’s first project in the spring. The work is expected to finish in July.
Councillor Dan Yake raised concerns about the Main Street resurfacing and asked if it was a “patch-job.”
“It is very limited work that has been identified,” said Givens.
Yake said he wanted more work done on Main Street.
“My concern is that we maybe should have looked at the entire Main Street, because (the problems) stretch further than that one block,” he said.
Givens stated the resurfacing was included in the request for proposals “in the hopes that the pricing would come in favourably to allow us to do those sections.”
He added if the cost was over budget, they would not be doing any resurfacing.
Council voted unanimously to award the tender to Moorefield Excavating Ltd.
The town was to hold a public meeting on the reconstruction on April 5 at the Mount Forest and District Sports Complex.
