City will award bid on post office renovation at tonight’s meeting

Gaffney City Council is slated to meet at a new time today, but an old item will be on the agenda.

Council agreed at its October meeting to move the start time of its meetings from 7 p.m. to 6 p.m. to coincide with the return to standard time.

A familiar item also returns to the agenda as council is expected to award the bid for interior renovations to the old post office.

City officials opened the bids Thursday, Oct. 22. At that time, Greenville-based SYS Contractors appeared to submit the lowest base bid of $999,000. But city administrator James Taylor said the project architect has been reviewing the bid to ensure it meets the project specifications.

Once the bid is awarded today, Taylor said the project will likely begin within several weeks. By that time, the installation of the new roof should be completed, he said.

Triangle Construction, also based in Greenville, had the next-lowest base bid of $1,027,777.

Gaffney’s Sossamon Construction had the third-lowest bid of $1,090,000. M.B. Kahn Construction had a bid of $1,118,000, while Hoke Enterprises submitted the highest bid of $1,163,811.

All five general contractors were pre-qualified by the project architect.

The contractor will be responsible for Phase III of the post office project, which includes the general renovation of the building. Phase I of the project — asbestos removal — has been completed while work on the second phase to replace the old roof is ongoing.

The bids also included unit prices for rock removal on the ground floor of the building and exterior joint repair.

The contractors also were asked to submit an alternative bid for the installation of an elevator.

The contractors also listed their subcontractors for HVAC, electrical, plumbing, fire protection and landscaping.

The city will use Hospitality Tax revenue and a remaining portion of a state grant to pay for the renovations. Most of the $400,000 state grant acquired two years ago by the local legislative delegation was used to purchase the building from a North Carolina businessman.

Council also is expected to adopt a new zoning map on first reading today. Zoning Administrator Tony Lavender said the purpose of the ordinance is to ensure the zoning districts are in sync with the city’s new computerized models.