BRUCEDALE – Guelph-Eramosa has accepted the lowest bid for construction of a new parking lot at Rockmosa Park, even though it is $80,000 more than projected in the 2019 budget.
Councillors awarded the job to Drexler Construction, which submitted a tender price of $431,540. Six other qualified bids ranged from $451,327 to $610,518.
The west parking lot project is part of ongoing upgrades to Rockmosa Park in Rockwood, with a total budget of $753,650 in 2019.
To bring the parking lot in line with the budget, staff considered deferring lighting from the tender, for a savings of $84,261 based on the Drexler bid.
Parks and recreation director Robin Milne, however, said the competitive bid for the lighting would not likely be achieved again in a future tender. He recommended the work proceed in 2019.
Councillors agreed, deciding to fund the overage with an internal loan from the rate stabilization reserve fund, with the intention of replenishing the fund as cash-in-lieu of parkland payments are made by developers.
