SHILOH – Legal advertisements seeking bids for a $2 million-plus water project in the Village of Shiloh will be delayed until further notice.
Village Administrator Bryan VerBurg said Wednesday that advertisements, originally intended to start Monday, are currently unable to begin running.
Project bid advertisements put on pause
“The (plan) design group is the hold up,” he said. “It is held up because the forms are not done, and the final plans are not done.”
Richland County commissioners approved seeking bids for the water project Sept. 21.
County administrator Andrew Keller told the three-member panel that commissioners were required to be a “joint owner of the construction project.”
This is because they had committed $500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds toward the effort.
Last week, Keller said officials hoped to run the first legal advertisement seeking bids on Sept. 25, and that bidding would close on Oct. 23.
The administrator said one overall contractor will be sought for the project, though the water tower demolition may be bid separately.
“I just don’t know when it’s going to be,” VerBurg said. “They’re (project engineers) hoping within a couple weeks, but it’s in their hands.”
Not seeing eye-to-eye
At the Sept. 12 council meeting, VerBurg said he received the most recent draft of final plans.
But, he said there were problems with them that still needed attention and sent them back to be corrected.
“As a village administrator, I don’t like to rush into anything,” VerBurg said.
“In the past, it’s been, hurry up and let’s get this done, but then we’re doing it again down the road,” he said.
VerBurg said this is the fourth time plans have been sent back to project engineers, citing a lack of changes the village would like to see included in the final plans.
A key issue that remains unresolved between project engineers and VerBurg involves running a water line running across an intersection on Main Street.
The latest draft of plans failed to address this revision, he said.
“For the most part, we’ve sent them back twice for the same reason that things just haven’t been changed,” he said. “That’s just the way it is.”
Time is of the essence
The three-phase project includes installing water meters for all village customers; fire hydrant and valve replacement; dismantling the old water tower; and replacing the Main Street water line.
Delays in the project have brought with them a great deal of frustration, he said.
“Pushing things back costs money,” he said. “This was all brought about in 2021, look where we’re at, this all has to be done by 2025.”
VerBurg said the village communicated with project engineers Wednesday and will review the latest draft of plans when they’re received.