City opens bids for Public Safety Center

By Everett Brazil, III

The Newkirk Herald Journal

NEWKIRK — Construction of the planned Public Safety Center is one step closer, as Newkirk city leaders held a special bid opening meeting Dec. 17 at City Hall for preliminary ground work, and city commissioners selected bids during the Dec. 28 meeting. Construction is expected to begin within the next few months.

The project is being overseen by Rick Scott Construction.

Two bids were accepted at the meeting, for concrete work and for earthwork.

Hembree & Hodgson Construction bid $460,419 for the concrete work, which includes the concrete slab, sidewalks, driveways and footings.

Sober Brothers Inc. bid $112,550 for the earthwork.

“They will be moving all the dirt for the site, and preparing the site for the building,” City Manager Ryan Smykil said.

A third bid was for utilities was also opened, which will see the installation of all utilities, including water, electricity and sewage. Hammer Construction bid $119,000 for the contract, but it was rejected, as it was deemed too high. The utilities bid will be reissued.

“It was over-budget, and not in line for similar projects for utilities,” Smykil said.

The city will next notify Rick Scott Construction of the accepted bids, and construction will begin in the coming months.

City leaders are happy to finally be moving forward on the project, which will house all emergency and first responder services in a new, state-of-the-art facility.

“This has been a long time coming, so we’re happy to get started, and we hope the rest of the building will go out for bidding in January,” he said.