The Huntingburg City Council heard an updated on Tuesday night on the status of the 4th Street Heritage Trail project which recently went out to bid. Nick Jahn with VS Engineering informed the council that only two bids were received, and of those bids, both were much higher than the initial estimates. A recommendation was made to reject the offers. Mayor Denny Spinner says the next steps have already begun.
Councilman Steve McPherron spoke at the meeting on how he sees the extra time to evaluate the project as positive. He says by stepping back for a few months as Market Street Park project finishes it could allow an opportunity to shed light on aspects of the 4th Street Heritage Trail project that might not have been thought of yet.
Another sentiment echoed by the council was that extra time might free up other contractors to bid for the project in the future, while also freeing up scheduling concerns that could raise costs among those who currently expressed interest.
Currently the financing from the state is guaranteed through 2020 and added to that 2019 will also see replenished funds to the city’s TIF and EDIT funds, bringing additional funds to the table that in 2018 would otherwise be limited with the current projects in development.
