SPECIAL TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
AUG. 15TH, 2023
TOWN HALL AT 6PM
Council in attendance: Gary Fujinami, Carl Sundstrom, Jason White, Scott Lyons, Lorrain Dell-Bishop, John Laigaie, and Mayor Daniel Reddish. Clerk and Treasurers: Rachel Parret and Reed Speegle. Grant Writer: Maureen Connor. Great West: Amy Deitchler. Prospect Contractors: Nick Patch (online).
Meeting called to order by Councilman Lyons.
Meeting was advertised at The Town Hall, Citizens Alliance Bank, US Post Office, Philipsburg Town Hall Website, and The Town Hall Agenda (Aug. 15th, 2023).
Mayor Reddish introduced Amy Deitchler from Great West Engineering.
Amy worked on a spreadsheet to see if she may have missed something in her numbers, during the bidding process. Amy had compared bids with Fromerg, Vaughn, Big Timber, Ryegate, and Absarokee. These bids had been done over the last 5 years and Amy’s estimate had still come in higher than those bids. The bid from Prospect was extremely high and Amy gave some suggestions as to lowering costs.
Amy met with Prospect Construction in Missoula, and they were only able to lower their bid by $25,000. Prospect would eliminate the trailer with a decrease of $20,000 and (if the DEQ approved) use electro testing instead of hydro testing with a $5000 decrease to the bid.
Amy is trying to get additional funding with 1.) WRDA is working on an additional $60,000 for the project, 2.) HB355 Funds are waiting on MDOC to put together allocations, and 3.) Rural Development could potentially give a loan with 35% grant package (timeline is the regarding issue for HB355).
Amy also spoke with several contractors who suggested that if the project went to rebid then Mid-Late October would be the best time, with bid opening in the 1st week of December.
Councilman Sundstrom made a motion to adjourn, Councilman Fujinami seconded motion, and the motion passed unanimously.