Back to the drawing board

After months of revising, redrawing and re-estimating plans for the proposed street department equipment storage building at Warm Springs Road and 10th Street, the construction bids are in.

And they’re high. Way too high.

So high the Ketchum City Council voted 3-1 to scrap the whole project as it now stands.

The lowest bid, submitted by Wright Brothers of Eagle, was still more than $200,000 over architect Dick Meyer’s estimate of $455,925.

City Administrator Jim Jaquet said in a memo to the mayor and city council that the disparity between the estimates and actual bids is the result of bad or incomplete estimating.

While representatives of Wright Brothers came to the city council meeting Monday night armed with a list of possible reductions, they quickly were shot down by Councilman Dave Hutchinson.

"You don’t just get a project with a 45 percent budget increase and vote to do it," Hutchinson said. "You say, hey, we’re not even close here. We’re going to go to the same architect to get new solutions or get a new architect. That’s just business."

Councilwoman Chris Potters fervently agreed.

"This is beyond the pale," she said. "I think we need to go back to the drawing board."

Councilwoman Sue Noel said that while she wished bids for the project had come in closer to the estimates, she felt the city really needed this building.

"The reason it’s costing so much is because it wasn’t built when it should have been built," she said.

The building, which during the planning process was the subject of sometimes contentious public hearings, would house 250 tons of sand, as well as street and park department equipment. Some 750 tons of sand would be stored outside the building.