Council accepts bid to demolish collapsed buildings

The Washington City Council approved a bid Wednesday from Cornerstone Excavating of Washington to demolish the collapsed buildings on South Marion Avenue. The bid was for approximately $156,000. The vote was 4-0 in favor of the bid. Councilors Karen Wilson-Johnson, Bob Shepherd, Merle Hagie and Russ Zieglowsky voted in favor, while Fred Stark and Mike Roth were absent.

This most recent round of bids was the second time the city sent the project out for bids. The city sent the project out for bids in April, but at its meeting May 4 it decided to reject the bids of two contractors, Cornerstone Excavating and Metro Demolition of Des Moines which bid approximately $116,000 and $126,000 on demolition, respectively.

At the council?s meeting Sept. 7 it voted to hire Active Thermal Concepts of Hiawatha to remove asbestos from 207, 209 and 211 S. Marion Ave. for about $27,000. That work was completed in mid-October.

At the council?s May 4 meeting, then city administrator David Plyman said that if the city sent out for bids a second time that the bids may come back higher than the first time. Current City Administrator Brent Hinson said he would have liked the newest bid from Cornerstone to be lower but that the council had limited alternatives.

?If you want to do it (demolish the buildings) by the end of the calendar year, approving this bid is the way to get that done,? Hinson said. ?If you want a lower price, you?ll have to wait until next year and it will have to be re-bid. Unfortunately, you never know what you?re going to get when you re-bid. We may not even get any bids if we bid it a third time.?

Shepherd said he was disappointed with the price of the bid. He said the price was likely a reflection of how late in the year the project was bid. Hinson said he spoke to one of the owners, Jim Zieglowsky, after receiving the bid.

?The overpowering thing, which we don?t have control over, is the inherent risk of the work,? Hinson said. ?That?s his biggest concern. We?re talking about demolishing a building that shares a wall with another building.?

Wilson-Johnson said it was time to clean up the buildings, the roof of which collapsed in 2006. Hagie agreed, remarking that the council had to bite the bullet and accept the bid because it might not get a response if it sent out for bids a third time.

Cornerstone Excavating has an office across the street to the east of the collapsed buildings. Jim Zieglowsky said Thursday that he does not know when his company will start the demolition but that it will be soon.

The council also talked about the proposed sidewalk leading to Mercy Medical Clinic on South Iowa Avenue. Russ Zieglowsky said he has heard nothing but negative comments about the proposal.

?The phone messages, letters and e-mails I get tell me that this sidewalk goes to nowhere,? he said. ?I have had zero people tell me they want a sidewalk there. In my opinion, it makes no sense to go that way. How many people are going to walk to the doctor?s office??

Shepherd said, ?Seeing as how it?s right next to Halcyon House, I think a lot of people will use it.?

?The bus picks up most of those people and takes them to the doctor?s office,? Zieglowsky said. ?The medical center is virtually the same distance from Halcyon as it was before, and they weren?t walking then. What is going to make them walk now??

Wilson-Johnson said she has received overwhelmingly positive comments about the proposed sidewalk. Zieglowsky said he is not against sidewalks but said it doesn?t make sense to put in a sidewalk that ends at the medical clinic. Wilson-Johnson said she was uncomfortable requiring developers to add sidewalks, in accordance with a city ordinance, without also doing something to promote sidewalks on property that was grandfathered in.

The council voted to table the discussion on sidewalks.