North Augusta picks stadium field contractor, OKs purchase process

6 June 2017

The North Augusta City Council voted Monday to choose a contractor for the GreenJackets playing field and approved a process to buy items the city must provide as owner of the stadium.

The council voted 7-0 to award the field contract to Precision Turf, which submitted the bid of $813,420, below the budgeted maximum of $815,000.

Other bidders were Brightview Landscape Development, $930,309; Fields Inc., $890,520; Carolina Green Corp., $820,397; and Motz Group, $875,000.

Precision Turf’s bid included increasing the depth of the outfield warning track, a $6,000 item not included in any of the other bids.

The council also voted unanimously to approve a process to buy $4.3 million worth of items for the stadium – including the field and its maintenance, front entry marquee, lighting, seating, scoreboard and ribbon displays, kids’ playground equipment, food service equipment and some baseball equipment.

As it spends about a tenth of the stadium’s overall $40.3 million budget, the city’s owner’s representative – James Dean of Brasfield &Gorrie – will pre-qualify bidders and request proposals with the help of a subcommittee made up of councilmen Fletcher Dickert and David McGhee, both construction professionals.

Together, they will evaluate proposals and recommend the best qualified bid to council – “at, hopefully, the lowest price,” Mayor Bob Pettit said. In other action, the city council:

Got good news on its annual audit from the firm Cherry Bekaert. Members were told North Augusta is “in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles,” has good internal control over financial reporting, and is in compliance with laws and regulations. No material weaknesses were noted.

Decided to hold a study session next Monday at 6:30 p.m. to discuss the city’s Comprehensive Plan, which is required by the state and is more than a year late. The Planning Commission has adopted the plan and the city has given it first-reading approval.

Accepted responsibility for “streets, stormwater sanitary sewer, fire suppression systems, dedicated open space, and associated easements and rights of way” in the Wando Woodlands subdivision, Phase 5. The developer provided a letter of credit for $150,000.

Approved a resolution designating June as Scoliosis Early Detection Awareness Month in the city, encouraging parents to have their children tested early. The issue was brought to the council by Elisabeth Harkins, a North Augusta High School student who suffers from the disease and started a support group called Curvy Girls, which now has members in South Carolina and Georgia, including Augusta and Atlanta. For the past four years, she has asked for and received state and local proclamations.

Honored city employees who participated in an eight-week fitness effort called the C3 Challenge, in which North Augusta, Aiken and Aiken County compete for bragging rights and a trophy. North Augusta placed second, behind Aiken.

 

Source:chronicle.augusta.com