Arena authority told now is the best time to take bids

 


If the Alva Arena Authority (AAA) could advertise for bids right now, they would likely save ten percent or more in the costs of construction. That was the focus of discussions during the virtual meeting held Tuesday at noon. Board members present were Dr. Janet Cunningham, Darrel Kline, Todd Holder and Daren Slater. Mike Hood and Gregg Glass were absent. Others attending were Sonja Williams who has been serving as secretary, Glenn Calvert of Priefert Complex Design, and Nick Witte and Casey Logue of Timberlake Construction.

Calvert has been working with AAA on designing the arena complex while Timberlake is the construction manager. Calvert said he and Witte talk about the Alva project every couple of weeks. Witte and Logue wanted to talk with the AAA about what they’re seeing in construction contractor bids.

Witte said due to changes brought about by COVID-19 expansion, sub-contractor bids are coming in lower than first estimated. He cited recent bids on an airport project, a school and a fraternity house that were at least 10 percent below original estimated costs. “Because of the unknown future, we are seeing subcontractors take work to build up a backlog,” he said.

In another instance, a church put a construction project on hold because they are seeing a drop in tithing.

Logue said, “There is money to be saved in the current market.” He recommended the AAA put some pressure on the USDA on getting financing approved so it could go out for bidding now.

Calvert also cited his experience with contractors indicating they’re doing what they can to keep projects. He said it might be worth going back to the sub-contractors to get new estimates.

Cunningham reported NWOSU had a bid opening last week for a tuck pointing project. (Tuck pointing uses two contrasting colors of mortar in the mortar joints of brickwork.) They were surprised to have seven bids, more than she could ever remember receiving.

Board members asked about progress in getting low interest financing from the USDA on the project. Williams said the regional office of USDA has the arena project financial feasibility report and has come back with questions. It appears the application is hung up at the regional office.

Holder said financing was “stuck in a holding pattern.” He said if the AAA used local financing, “which we have,” they could move forward with bidding but they’d have to pay higher interest rates. Cunningham said she believes the USDA financing is still the best option.

Board members discussed going back to the sub-contractors to get estimates more in line with the current climate. According to Logue, the cost to do so would be minimal. However, Slater was concerned the project might be stalled for another six to 12 months waiting on financing, which might test the goodwill of the sub-contractors.

Logue said that would depend on how long the coronavirus situation lasts. It’s been long enough since the first estimates that he didn’t think the reaction would be negative. However, he said, “I think the best number we get is the bid day number.”

Calvert said going back to get estimates didn’t make a lot of sense unless the AAA was ready to bid the project quickly. Looking at it from the sub-contractor perspective, Kline said if he had to figure a job three times, “I’m not interested. They’ll go looking somewhere else.”

Delays at the USDA were discussed. Holder said he thought the application would get through the regional office quicker. He’d been told once the application went to the national office, after 30 days it was time to start contacting Congressmen to push it along. He said if bidding now could reduce the project cost by 25 percent, it could be covered by local financing. However, Calvert said that would be stretch. The realistic savings would be 10 percent.

To clarify the USDA timeline, Williams phoned Shelley Bookout with the USDA regional office and put her on speaker phone. Bookout reported the regional office has several projects on their list to review including the one from Alva. She didn’t know how many were on the list ahead of the AAA project. Once the regional office determines everything is in order, it will be sent to the national office.

Holder asked if the COVID-19 situation is slowing down the process, but Bookout said she didn’t see any reason it would. She said there might be a delay of a week or so. Although work is being done from home, it’s not causing delays.

Calvert asked if the board members wanted Timberlake to get new estimates from sub-contractors. Each of the board members said they wanted to wait for the USDA process. Cunningham said if there were some movement on the USDA application, they could call a special meeting.

Williams Approved as Assistant Secretary/Treasurer

Williams has been serving as secretary of the arena authority since it was formed. In addition to organizing all the paperwork and communication, she has also been involved in the financial side of the project.

As executive director of the Woods County Economic Development Committee, Williams had an official role in the project. Since she has resigned to take a new job, she has no official standing with the AAA.

Williams said the bylaws state the authority can have an assistant secretary/treasurer and it “makes it cleaner” to handle her role that way. Holder quickly offered to relinquish his title as treasurer so Williams could take over. No one seconded that motion, so Holder made a motion to appoint Williams as the assistant secretary/treasurer with Slater seconding. The motion passed unanimously.

Other Business

In the treasurer’s report, Williams said the bank balance stands at $98,205.50.

There were no further updates from the design committee, the management/operations committee or the funding committee. It was discussed and agreed upon that the concessions/kitchen committee is no longer needed so it will be folded into the design committee.

 

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