Drainage Relief on the Way in La Grange
The La Grange City Council awarded a bid for a portion of a major drainage project the City hopes to complete in the next two years.
The City received a $3.6 million community development block grant to pay for the drainage upgrades, which must be completed by the end of next year. Notably, this grant does not require any matching funds by the City. Accordingly, this drainage project will not require any local tax dollars. BEFCO Engineering of La Grange designed the drainage project and split it into five parts. The contract that Council awarded Monday night covers parts three through five, which include work on Franklin St., the Weikel Schiller drainage area and Beefhead Ditch. The lowest bidder was Frontier Development of Hallettsville, who submitted a price of $1,924,941. Tim Sanders of BEFCO Engineering said that Frontier Development sent a letter after the bid opening requesting to withdraw their bid due to a clerical error.
“That’s kind of an unusual situation for a contractor to request a withdrawal of their bid,” Sanders said at the meeting Monday night. “I’ve been at BEFCO a little over 18 years and this is the first time we’ve actually had a contractor request their bid to be withdrawn.”
Sanders said he consulted with the CityAttorney who determined that their request was in concurrence with state law. Accordingly, Sanders recommended second-lowest bidder, M&C Fonseca Construction of Granite Shoals, who submitted a price of $2,103,846.
Council ultimately awarded the bid to M&C Fonseca. That leaves a little more than $1.5 million remaining in grant funds for parts one and two of the project, which involve drainage improvements on Main St. and Washington St. The City has not yet solicited bids for that work, but BEFCO had previously estimated a cost of $2.1 million for parts one and two.
“I’m not anticipating we’ll be able to do the whole thing,” Sanders said.
“We’ll design the whole project, but basically as far as what we would construct, we’ll go as far as the funds allow us,” Sanders added. “And if the City wants to kick in additional funds, we can take that into consideration. But for now, assuming the City doesn’t kick in any funds, we would start on the furthest downstream end and work our way upstream and go as far as the money will allow and then come up with a suitable stopping point for the project.”
Sanders said he anticipates going out for bids on parts one and two this summer. For parts three through five, a pre-construction meeting with the contractor will take place about a month from now, Sanders said. La Grange Public Works Director Rob Woods said he anticipates construction to be complete on this portion of the project in January 2027. The remaining work must be complete by December 2027 according to the terms of the grant.