Alva Review-Courier -

The Alva Parks and Recreation Board members want to get infield turf installed on ballfields over the summer. Although they want to make a decision soon, they want to make sure the expensive project is done correctly. On April 12, the board met with Darran Scott of Kimley-Horn about the Hatfield Park master plan. At that meeting, Scott also talked about what his firm could offer on the turf project.

The board met again on May 3 to consider signing an agreement with Kimley-Horn. Services including designing, drawing up bid specifications, analyzing bids and checking the work would cost seven percent of the total project or about $70,000. Board members wanted time to study the Kimley-Horn agreement and check on some of their other turf projects so the agreement was tabled.

On Wednesday, May 10, the board held their regular meeting Shane Hansen, Chad Fisher, Matt Tucker, Gail Swallow and Heath Shelite present. Gregg Glass and Brandon Sherman were absent.

After approving minutes of the last two special meetings and the financial report, the board again addressed the agreement with Kimley-Horn for the turf project. Mayor Kelly Parker said Glass shared some of his thoughts on the topic since he wasn’t able to attend the meeting. He said Glass is “not too excited about the $70,000 engineering contract.” However, the mayor said the city hasn’t done a turf project like this and wants it done right.

City Business Manager Stephen Ford said the board has the option of sending out a request for proposals to turf contractors with some specifications of what the project entails. This means the contractors would come up with their own designs. Ford said they could use Kimley-Horn’s help in evaluating the proposals which would cost $250 per hour or about $10,000.

Parker said he was “good either way you decide.” He said he thought they would want designs to compare proposals. The $10,000 figure came from Kimley-Horn’s estimate of what they’d charge for preparing bid documents which would be comparable to preparing requests for proposals.

Fisher said with an engineer, there would be a little more security since they would be “on the hook” for the success of the project. Parker explained that Kimley-Horn would not be on the hook unless the design is bad. They are not responsible for the contractor’s work.

Ford suggested the request for proposals could specify that the contractor guarantee work for one year on top of the materials warranties.

Tucker said he was not comfortable voting on the agreement with Glass absent. Parker said Glass doesn’t want the contract.

After more discussion, Parker said he was hearing that the board did not want the agreement. A decision on anything else would require another meeting. Fisher made a motion not to approve the agreement, seconded by Tucker, and the motion carried unanimously.

A special meeting may be required to decide Kimley-Horn’s role in the turf project although Ford pointed out the $10,000 charge discussed falls within his spending limit.

Parks and Recreation Director Courtney Nesseralla gave a short report about the baseball tournament scheduled for the weekend. She said T-ball signups had gone out.