At a committee meeting last week, the Oak Park park board rejected a low bid and discussed other ongoing projects throughout the village.
After rejecting the low bid for restoration work on Pleasant Home in Mills Park, the board discussed hiring the next lowest bidding companies, Midwest Fence and Restore Masonry to complete the work.
The board also reviewed ongoing improvement efforts at Cheney Mansion on north Euclid Avenue, and at Taylor Park on west Division Street.
The committee voted to reject the low bid from DTS Enterprises of Northfield after reviewing references provided by the contractors. Park district project manager Neil Adams said staff didn’t feel that DTS had the expertise to complete the restoration work, citing an unfavorable reference because of issues related to completing a project.
Adams also expressed concern that the bid was roughly $95,000 less than the next lowest bidder. After meeting with several park district staffers and DTS representatives to discuss project cost, the company couldn’t sufficiently explain how they would do the necessary work at such a low cost. They also failed to report their intention to use subcontractors for a portion of the work. “We need to be notified if they were planning on using subcontractors,” Adams said later.
Instead, the board discussed enlisting Midwest Fence and Restore Masonry for the restoration project. “There is a degree of specialty that goes into this work,” said park district Executive Director Gary Balling, noting that the property is a national historic landmark. He said the companies seemed qualified to handle the level of expertise required. Adams added that, so far, references for the companies have all checked out.
The bid amount for fencing restoration work by Midwest Fence is $228,461, and the bid for masonry restoration work by Restore Masonry came in at $181,400.
Phase one of the Cheney Mansion restoration project comes with a laundry list of improvements, including the construction of several new walkways and pathways, replacement of concrete sidewalks along Erie and Ontario, and new signage for the main entrance on Euclid and fences on Erie and Ontario.
“We have $200,000 allocated for these improvements” from capital improvement plan funds, said Adams. The total projected cost for phase one is $197,296, including $26,000 to hire Wolff Landscape Architecture to complete the improvements.
The board also discussed preliminary improvements as part of a master site plan for Taylor Park. Phase one plans include the reconstruction of six tennis courts, the installation of a new playground area with designated sites for children, 2-5 and 5-12, and the installation of a new wetlands area.
The addition of some 28 trees is also planned, and Adams said a wetland would be built into an area that is already frequently inundated with water.
With a total cost of almost $1 million, the preliminary phase of the Taylor Park project will use $680,000 from the park district’s capital improvements budget and an additional $400,000 in state funding from an Illinois Department of Natural Resources Open Space Land Acquisition & Development (OSLAD) grant. An agreement would allow Dominican University and Fenwick High School access to the park tennis courts. The two schools have committed to contributing $30,000 for tennis court improvements.
The project is slated to begin in early April. The park district aims to complete the tennis courts by July 1, so they are available for use during the summer season. Complete phase one improvements are slated to be finished by October.