Wellesley council approves contractors to carry out gravel-road work
ABOUT A THIRD OF WELLESLEY Township’s gravel roads will get a fresh coat of materials this year under a plan approved by councillors meeting Tuesday night.
Council approved a plan that will pay Dufferin Aggregates up to $263,749.20 to supply granular “A” gravel and up to $69,054.34 to Bre-Haul Trucking Ltd. to put down the new material.
The revised plan was developed by staff after 2024 became the second year in a row that the township received just one bid for its gravel resurfacing tender. This year, the bid came out to $383,635.20, which was higher than the budgeted amount. The township scrapped the tender in favour of a lower price gained by splitting out the work.
There were two bids for supplying the gravel, one from Dufferin Aggregates for $13.75 per metric tonne and one from Steed and Evans for $12.84 per metric tonne, however director of public works Chris Cook recommended the higher bid based on the location of the source pit. Bre-Haul Trucking will pick up the material and apply it.
“The lower price material was such that the total overall cost of the project was actually higher, which is why we’re recommending using the more expensive gravel supplier. We will be looking at alternate ways to attend to this in the future, but might have difficulties because of the total cost being over $100,000. Within the purchasing bylaw, we have to tender. So we might be stuck tendering and not awarding and having to go this road afterwards,” Cook told council.
The roads set for work this year are Hackbart Road (Gerber Road to Ament Line), Hutchison Road (William Hastings Line to Ament Line) Ayrshire Lane (Hutchison Road to the end) and Boomer Line (Hutchison Road to 160m west of Moser-Young Road).
Other roads to be done include Empey Road, (Boomer Line to the end at the Conestoga River), Powell Road (Lawson Line to Line 86), Temperance Road (Herrgott Road to Broadway Street), Bricker School Line (Temperance Road to Steffler Road) and Mallot Road (Bricker School Line to Line 86).
Some 18,850 tonnes of gravel will be used in this year’s work.