Oak Point hires project manager

OAK POINT - The City Council regrouped this week after bids to build a new city hall came in higher than expected.

The council agreed during its regular meeting Monday night to hire Snyder Construction as a construction manager instead. If all goes well, Mayor Jim Wohletz said, the council may consider a construction contract with the company during its regular meeting in February.

"With all we've been through, I think we've been pretty thorough in making sure we're getting a big bang for our bucks," Wohletz said. "But we need to get our people out of that doggone trailer."

The city staff moved their offices into a portable building in the City Hall parking lot in July 2009 after discovering that City Hall had been damaged by poor drainage and mold. City leaders had hoped to rehabilitate the 18-year-old building but demolished it in 2010 when they realized that option was too expensive.

After a community meeting in March, where the council received feedback from residents, the city hired an architect and sought competitive bids. Bids came in higher than the preliminary cost estimates of between $600,000 and $725,000, so city leaders sat down with contractors to look for ways to save money.

In November, the council learned about other ways under Texas law that they could contract for construction. They agreed to bid for a "construction manager at-risk."

The council amended its budget in December to authorize $535,000 from the capital projects fund to pay for construction of the building and another $75,000 to pay for road improvements.

In a memo to the council for January's meeting, City Manager Doug Mousel explained that traditional contract bidding doesn't allow for input from contractors, even though they sometimes have better ideas about the construction plans. To work with a "construction manager at-risk," the city pays fees for pre-construction services that help identify issues that affect both the cost and quality of the building, but help secure the best price for the project.

Once those issues are settled, the construction manager prepares a "guaranteed maximum price" proposal that includes construction fees and a contingency amount that is refunded to the owner if it is unused, or partially used, at the end of the project.

Five construction companies met the Jan. 5 deadline to submit proposals for the work. The council selected Snyder.

In an interview Wednesday, Mousel said it was still too soon to speculate whether Snyder, which was one of the original bidders, would see its guaranteed maximum price construction proposal accepted by the council.

During Monday's meeting, the council also approved another six-month lease for the portable building.

Wohletz said he wasn't happy about the $12,000 bond needed for the at-risk services but understood why it was required. If the council agrees to contract with Snyder for construction, Wohletz expects work to start in March or April. If all goes as planned, the building could be occupied by September.

"We need a stable work environment for our people," Wohletz said, adding that the trailer doesn't have hot water. "In the wintertime, that's not a good deal."

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com.