Marina Park group to rebid project

 The Tuscarora Township Marina Park Committee received no responses to its solicitation for bids on its Trailhead project and will postpone seeking bids a second time until later in the year. Project manager Brian Boals of Gourdie-Fraser, Inc., in Traverse City said he had talked to several contractors and they were just too busy to take on the project, which was slated to start in the fall. However, if the project were delayed until 2015, there would be a lot of interest in it. “We anticipated this might have been a problem,” said Marina Park Committee President Sally Snyder. Because there had been such a small window between when the bid packages were approved and then submitted for bids, committee members weren’t entirely surprised when no bids were received. Boals said it was a matter of the contractors being too busy to be able to pick up another job starting after Labor Day. The committee will now have to rework the bid packages to change the start date before resubmitting it for bids. It also will have to consider extending its grants for funding the project through the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, DNR, Trust Fund, to reflect the new start date. “We will go back to them because they have approved our plans and stuff, and they know we’re going to do it,” said Snyder. “They might push the grant for us.” Boals said the extension currently on the grants is for June of next year because even if the project would have started this fall, there could have been lingering work to be completed in the spring. “So it was extended to 2015 anyway, but you know, now I think maybe we would be looking at extending it a couple more months,” said Boals. The committee originally tried to begin the Trailhead project in the fall because it wanted the opportunity for the grass and landscaping to grow and be ready for Memorial Day and Summerfest. Boals said he could put the project back out for bids at the beginning of the year. There were approximately five plan holders who had looked at the project. “They certainly would be interested in it as a 2015 project, so that’s kind of the case,” said Boals. The committee also has the option of putting the project back out for bids as soon as possible, simply stating when the new project start date is. “I don’t know if I would want to wait until January to put it out there and then find out that they’re already loaded up again for next year,” said Marina Park Committee member Gina Burke. “If we can get it out for bid and then they can schedule it and they put it into their books, they know what they are going to do.”