Council plans special session for bids

Amherst City Council will meet at 7:45 p.m., Oct. 11, in special session at council chambers, 206 S. Main St., because of bids on a turnpike stormwater mitigation project.

Mayor Mark Costilow said the city chose the lowest bid at $218,473 from Karvo Companies in Stow.

However, the company allegedly lost a necessary pre-qualification with the Ohio Department of Transportation, Costilow said.

The next lowest bid of $225,410 from Mark Haynes Construction from Norwalk came in $225 higher than 10 percent over an engineer’s estimate, he said.

Rebidding may cost up to $10,000 in addition to a possibility of higher bids the second time, the mayor said.

“They were 10.11 percent above the engineer’s estimate, so it’s really not cost effective to rebid it,” Costilow said. “And we want to get the project done this year.

“Rebidding would stall the project. The prices probably would come in higher the next time around.”

The project is in cooperation with Amherst Exempted Village Schools, and includes a retention pond on a Shupe School property.

The purpose is to reduce flooding in the city, Costilow indicated in a letter to Council.

The pond probably will be grassy and dry for most of the year, and would collect rain water during storms.

Amherst School Board approved the project previously. Shupe school is under demolition.

A spokesperson for Karvo could not be reached immediately by telephone.