Sandy Springs Tackles Morgan Falls Road Improvements

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Sandy Springs residents who routinely use Morgan Falls Road could soon see improvements to the street.

The City Council on Tuesday voted 4-2, with Council members Andy Bauman and Tibby DeJulio opposing, to execute a contract with Lewallen Construction to perform improvements on the road for $1.75 million.

The project includes resurfacing, site grading, excavation and hauling off materials, new sidewalks, curbing, retaining walls, implementing a storm draining system and erosion control measures.

The city received eight bids for the project. However, the four lowest bidders failed to meet bid requirements set forth by Sandy Springs policy:

• Neil Construction, the lowest bidder at $1.26 million, was not a Georgia Department of Transportation prime pre-qualified contractor as required by the bidding instructions and city policy;
• Summit Construction, the second lowest bidder at $1.48 million, did not provide a GDOT-registered Soil Nail Wall sub-contractor at the time of bidding, as required by the bid document.
• JHC Corporation and Astra Group, the third and fourth lowest bidder, respectively, did not identify their sub-contractors at the time of bidding, as required by the bid document. JHC Corporation submitted a bid for $1.69 million while Astra Group’s bid clocked in at $1.7 million.

Those factors forced staff to recommend Lewallen, the fifth lowest bidder, to perform the work. Cost estimates for the project are right around $1.2 million.

The city currently has roughly $1.9 million available in funding for the project, which has been significantly paired down since it was first proposed, said Marty Martin, capital improvements projects unit manager with the city.

DeJulio, who was not comfortable with accepting Lewallen as the recommended contractor due to the higher price tag, offered a motion to reject all bids submitted for the project, and to re-bid the project out for proposals.

However, that motion was rejected with a vote of 2-4. Council members Gabriel Sterling, Graham McDonald, Ken Dishman and John Paulson all rejected the proposal while DeJulio and Councilman Andy Bauman voted in favor of the rejection.

Dishman added there was no guarantee that bids for the project would come back cheaper. Also, Sterling noted that the city has a system in place, and the companies were well aware of the rules when they submitted their proposals.

Sterling added that improvements for Morgan Falls Road, which he classified as ”the most hated road in Sandy Springs,” have been in the works for years and it was time the city move forward with the project.

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Image via Shutterstock