Staff Writer

A lower than expected water line bid means more savings for the Union County School District.

Union City Council awarded the bid for construction of water lines to two new schools to Grace Utilities LLC for $194,964.40. The eight-inch water lines will be run along U.S. 176 to the new Sims Middle School south of Union and to the K-8 school being built at the intersection with New Hope Church Road in the Jonesville area. The project will also include the construction of a 30,000-gallon fire tank at the Sims site.

The project had originally been estimated to cost just over $300,000 and so the lower bid price surprised city officials. Utility director Joe Nichols said that before recommending council approve the bid, the city's engineers researched whether or not Grace Utilities would be able to do the work for the proposed amount. Based on the company's past performance, they determined that Grace Utilities would indeed be able to do the work at their bid price.

Nichols said that while the city will pay Grace Utilities for the work, it will be reimbursed the cost of the project by the Union County School District.

Work on the two schools is costing less than the estimated original estimate. On Monday, Finance director Lynn Lawson told the Union County Board of School Trustees that lower than expected bid amounts raised the possibility that the district would have as much as $6 million left over when the schools are completed.

Local contractors

In other business, council approved second reading of an ordinance allowing the city to give preference to local contracts in awarding bids, even if the contractor is not the low-bidder.

Mayor Bruce Morgan said the ordinance gives council the authority to award bids to local contractors if they are within 2 percent of the low bid. He said that while council will make the final decision on whether to award a contract to a low bidder or to a local contractor within the 2 percent margin, the ordinance gives council the means of helping keep city money in local hands.

“Normally we go with the low-bidder if they're a qualified bidder,” he said. “This gives council another option to help keep that money locally rather than going to out of town contractors.”

Councilmen Keith Henderson and Ricky Harris abstained from voting, citing the fact that they are businessmen who might at some point in time be bidding on work for the city.