Warren Department of Public Works director Barry Simpson put out a request for proposals from three engineers and met with all three engineers at separate times on site including Mark Bannon, Don Marsh of Marsh Engineering, and Doug Newton who respectively declined Simpson’s request.
On Town Meeting Day, voters unanimously approved Article 7 to fund the Sugarbush Access Road repaving project at a cost of $375,000. There wasn’t a single nay vote.
The project consists of paving an eight-tenths of a mile section of road starting in the vicinity of Gold Hill Road and ending near Wheeler Brook.
Select board member Bob Ackland said that approving the project is necessary to meet the standards in order to receive state funding, especially where erosion control is concerned.
Select board chair Andy Cunningham said he was inclined to go with Bannon because he submitted a “much more all-inclusive bid; you’re going to end up spending more or the same amount by the time you get the others up to snuff.”
Town officials questioned why Bannon included the notion of an overlay with a grind, something Cunningham said “wasn’t in our interest at all; our whole take is that the sub strata is so crappy that we need to take all the asphalt out and some of the sub base and start over from that level.”
Cunningham added, “It seems that Bannon is more interested in hand holding us through the process.”
Simpson said he has “always been impressed with Bannon’s thoroughness” and liked that he included some aspects about how the particular road could be resurfaced.
Cunningham stressed the town’s expectations about timeliness for the completion of the project.
“Our expectations are for promptness,” he said, adding that the bids are “fairly equivalent.”
“As soon as the engineer gives us the physical documents, we’ll release it and get as many bids as we get and award the contract as soon as we can,” Cunningham continued.
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