Council separates bids on wastewater plant improvements
City to share PPE with community
Forrest City will be rebidding its wastewater treatment plant rehabilitation project after previous bids were returned upon review by the city's engineer.
Forrest City Mayor Cedric Williams told members of the city council during their meeting Tuesday that the Iconic Consulting Group, Inc., had sent him a letter with the breakdown of each item in the initial project, including alternatives.
Williams read the letter to the council. “Bids were received for the wastewater treatment plant rehabilitation project at city hall at 2 p.m., on Thursday, May 12, 2022. The bids have been checked for accuracy and compliance with the contract documents.”
Williams said the city received two bids for the project, with Crow Group, Inc., being the lowest bidder.
The group listed three options for the project per the city's request for alternatives.
Crow Group's base bid came in at $2,700,000; alternate 1 from the company was listed at $2,481,000 and alternate 2 was listed at $2,276,000.
"Although these are the lowest bids received, we believe the project should be rebid as two separate project bids would separate the work of the original bid between the clarifiers rehabilitation and the blowers replacement," Keith Britton, with the Iconic Consulting Group, Inc., wrote in the letter. "It is our opinion that bidding on this work separately will result in significant cost savings for the clarifiers rehabilitation work that would allow companies that specialize in this type of work to bid."
Williams further stated the letter suggested consulting with the city's attorney and putting the project out for bids again as soon as possible.
"The secondary company was KJ Parker Construction," said Williams.
"We feel that if we rebid the project with alternatives it will be very close to our Arkansas Natural Resources loan amount," said Williams.
The council granted permission unanimously, with only councilman Marvin Metcalf not in attendance.
During his mayor's update, Williams announced the city would be hosting another community-wide cleanup on Saturday, May 28, from 9 to 11 a.m. Williams said participants could pick up supplies at city hall between 8 and 9 a.m.
Williams also told the council the Arkansas Black Mayors Association donated 1,000 PPE kits for distribution to those in need in the city.
"What we are looking to do, as a city, is on Friday take them and donate them to different churches, daycares and elderly facilities in need," said Williams. “If you know of someone in need, please let us know. We are hoping to utilize some of our first responders to help deliver those."
Williams also noted that CoreMark had donated 10,000 bottles of sanitizer to the city that will also be distributed to facilities in need.
Councilman Justin Reeves, chairman of the council’s budget committee, reported the group had not yet agreed to amend the city’s 2021 budget.
Williams told the council that auditors requested amendments to the budget before the next council meeting in June and the council would have a special called meeting to approve the budget once it is amended.
"If you need any additional information, Mrs. (Glynis) Lynch can email you any information you might need," said Williams.
Council member Louise Fields asked the council to vote to approve cost-of-living increases requested by former Forrest City Mayor Larry Bryant.
"It was stated it was strictly up to the council to whether or not he got his money, and I'd like to vote if we approve that," said Fields.
Williams said the city attorney had been in conversations with Bryant and it would be the agenda for the next council meeting.
"That's not what he said in the last meeting. He said the COLA was strictly up to the council," said Fields.
"First, it is not on the agenda for tonight, so you'd have to vote to amend the agenda," explained Forrest City City Attorney Marshall Wright. He said the cost-of-living increases would have to be addressed when other pay increases were discussed by the council for budgeting purposes. "The COLAs are not going to be addressed until you address the other budget stuff or cost-of-living stuff."
Wright said that through his research, the time to vote on adjustments would be during those budget meetings for the next year.
Fields said she did not feel that information was shared at the previous meeting.
Councilman Chris Oswalt referred to minutes in the last meeting to read what was discussed.
"I asked the city attorney what he had found out about the cost-of-living increase and when it could be done, if the council
needed to do a resolution or an ordinance yearly or whatever APERS does," said Oswalt. "Attorney Wright stated yes, the council could give it, it must be voted on annually just like the city's employees and it is the decision of the council on the statute. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you were under the impression of that part of what Larry Bryant was requesting is separate from the other issue from how we determined the amount of what his retirement was going to be?"
Fields said she understood the retirement amount was separate from the cost-of-living but she mainly wanted to address the cost-of-living increase for Bryant.
"We should have voted on it at the last meeting," said Fields. "Because he said it was strictly up to the council."
"What we can do is make it an agenda item and have it and the information to discuss it during that special called meeting so we can come up with a decision on that aspect," said Williams.
“Before that meeting we need to know what the cost-ofliving was for every year since it started so we can decide if we want to give it retroactively or just for this current year. Because there are going to be some council members who want to see the amounts for both of them,” said Oswalt. Williams agreed. Williams also reported that an investigation into a police incident involving a video of a man in the department’s foyer had taken place and the First Judicial District Prosecutor’s office had "declined to file a felony information against the officers at this time."
"I just want the council to have that information to be able to respond to that," said Williams.
Councilman Danny Capps asked for updates on street lighting repairs on Highway 284 to which Williams said the problems had been reported to Entergy.
"We also opened bids for the cloverleaf lighting," said Williams. who had two bids from Inline, LLC and Broadway Lighting. "Currently, the bids are being checked for accuracy and compliance by the engineers and we'll bring those back to the council once those are done."
Oswalt asked since bid amounts were over the amounts of the bond issue for that project, where other funding could come from.
Williams explained it could come from the street department but the city is also in conversations with the bond attorneys to check to see if funds could be used from the streetscape bond, under the lighting portion, since the project had additional requirements on it from Arkansas Department of Transportation. "If these figures are accurate and if the low bidder is chosen," he said.
Oswalt also asked about limb pickup procedures.
Williams explained that Monday through Thursday chipper trucks work in areas and dedicate Friday to call-in pickups.
Oswalt asked that the department be more thorough in picking up areas due to debris being left in neighborhoods for several weeks.
Residents are encouraged to call the city shop at 870-2611418 to be placed on the pickup list as well.
In other business, the council tabled the AR&R Transitional Living, Inc., ordinance until the ordinance is completed.
The group paid bills in the amount of $27,309.01 from general funds, $7,953.78 from street funds, $45,290.29 from solid waste and $59,465.05 from water.
Councilman Jason Evansingston abstained from voting on bill payments.