By Kelsi Langston
For Miami Valley Today
The village of Covington received feedback from contractors after it recently received no bids for its Government Center remodel project, it was shared during the Covington Village Council meeting on Oct. 16.
Village Administrator Kyle Hinkelman said of the seven contractors who attended the pre-bid meeting, none of them submitted a bid for the project. Hinkelman said the engineer and architect received feedback that could be broken into four categories. The first is bids with alternates, as the village presented a base bid for the Government Center and alternate bids for the parking lot and the council chambers. The second was specifics that were too difficult to bid, including which was the earthwork and the masonry. The third category is competition, as three large school projects were also bidding in other locations the week that the village went out for bid. The fourth was the project budget, according to Hinkelman.
“The village is going to have to determine what our next steps are, the timelines, how we want to proceed. Garmin Miller will be the partner in whatever we go forward with, whether we rebid in the short term, whether we decide to kind of gather ourselves and think of something different and bid it in the future. Whatever that is, Garmin Miller will facilitate that process for us at no additional cost,” said Hinkelman. “We have obviously fought this challenge through the Schoolhouse Park project. We were successful in getting bidders for that. So, I believe very strongly we will get bidders for this. We just have to determine how we’d like to move forward in terms of what the next steps are.”
Covington Community Chest again donated funds to the Covington Police Department for new body armor. A donation of $15,000 was received and will help the department purchase six ballistic vests with a second carrier and replacements for all equipment on the current vests. Officer Tim Cline said the Community Chest donated funds for at least the last two vest purchases, if not more.
“We’re very appreciative to their continued support of our department,” said Cline.
In other buiness, council approved minutes from its Oct. 2 meeting, the September tax report, September financial report, September fund balance report, and the September check report. In September, the village received $372,554.20 and had $455,475.54 in expenses, of which $130,000 was transferred to Fire and EMS Services per the village’s contract with that organization. The all-funds balance at the end of September was $5,062,747.
Village Council waived the three-reading rule and approved a resolution amending the Schoolhouse Park engineering contract with Kleinfelder. This amendment authorizes Kleinfelder to have an inspector on site while Westerheide Construction completes the splash pad and pavilion phase of the project. The inspector will only manage the process during the months of which work is done. The contract is for 10 months at a cost of $2,000 per month, not to exceed $20,000.
Mayor Ed McCord reminded residents the Halloween Costume Contest will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m. on Wright Street. The contest is hosted by Covington Tomorrow, formerly known as the Covington Noon Optimists, and is open to all ages. Trick-or-treat night in the village is Thursday, Oct. 26, from 6 to 8 p.m.
Finally, Village Council entered executive session to consider the appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion, demotion, or compensation of a public employee or official, and to consider the purchase of property for public purposes, the sale of property at competitive bidding, or the sale or other disposition of unneeded, obsolete, or unfit-for-use property. No formal action was taken by council after members came back into the regular session.
A special 2024 budget meeting was set for Oct. 23, at 6 p.m. The next regular council meeting is Nov. 6 at 7.pm.
The writer is a regular contributor to Miami Valley Today.
