Collierville animal shelter bids high

Low bid of $1.46 million more than the staff had anticipated

Work on expanding the Collierville Animal Shelter will likely be delayed after bids for a new Humane Education/Surgery Center came in almost a half-million dollars over budget.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen will vote on the bids Monday night. The staff is recommending the board reject them. If the board concurs, the staff will see what changes can bring the project in line with what they have budgeted, which is about $1 million.

Out of seven bids from local construction compa- nies, the lowest was from Viktor Hall Construction of Memphis with a bid for $1.46 million. The highest was a bid for $1.67 million.

“We’re trying to regroup and look at different options. We could build it in phases,” said Chip Petersen, director of Parks, Recreation and Community Services. If the board rejects the bids, Petersen said he expects the project will be rebid later this year.

Petersen said he’s uncertain what drove up the cost for the project: “It could be the dirt work or the bricks. I’m not really sure. That’s what we will be studying. We will rebound and start over.”

Thomas Szymanek with Viktor Hall Construction said the building’s size drove most of the costs. “The architect did a great job drawing the building,” he said. The two buildings combined total 6,022 square foot. An outdoor kennel is another 2,315 square feet.

The town had hoped to build a new educational building for regional training, birthday parties and day camps, along with a separate surgical building for spaying, neutering and minor surgeries.

An avid animal lover anonymously gave the town over a half-million dollars for the project. The rest was raised over the past nine and half years by Wingfield and others.

The proposal called for the two buildings to be connected by a breezeway or sally port where shelter vehicles could drive in and close the gate in a secured area.

The plans also included separate holding areas for feral cats and their recovery, a dog and a cat quarantine, a rabies holding area, a vicious dog area and isolation area for cats and dogs.

Town officials had hoped the project would be finished by late this year or early next year with about six months of construction.

“A lot of times you can project out what it will cost but until you get that contract, you just never know,” said Collierville Mayor Stan Joyner. “That’s when you get the hard numbers.”

“I know it is going to happen. It’s worth the wait,” said Animal Shelter Director Nina Wingfield.