Humboldt City Counci said “no” to project bids on a pair of renovations set out as Requests for Proposal earlier in the year. The washroom at Jubilee Hall in the Uniplex and the roof reno for the Reid Thompson Library have been on the radar, but the City indicated it was not prepared to accept the bids that came in at well over the projected budget. A pair of reports were presented to Council at a special meeting on July 10. 

In the first case, the Uniplex washrooms, the city had been eyeing the project since 2019 but had deferred, awaiting a decision on the Broncos Tribute Centre. With no movement on that front and with an eye to making the Uniplex attractive for events and conventions, Council agreed to proceed with an RFP to see improvements and modernization to the washroom facilities.  

In his report, Mike Ulriksen, director of Community and Leisure Services, outlined an anticipated cost of $120,000, with $50,000 to come from existing budgets and the remaining $70,000 to come from reserves. However, when three bids came in, ranging from a low of $186,935 to a high of $235,145, Council agreed with the recommendation not to proceed with any of the bidding contractors. 

The alternative suggested at the meeting was for the City crew to undertake some of the work on demolition and connect with local contractors to handle the trades on a sub-contract basis, trying to get the work done between major bookings.  

“That’s definitely going to be part of the review to see what we can do internally,” said Ulriksen. “We’ll look at what we can do ourselves and what we can farm out on a piece-by-piece basis.” 

It was a similar situation with the library roof modification where a separate report recommended rejecting the sole bid. Initial budget estimates by the City, based on engineering consultations, had the project pegged at a cost of $42,000 with reserve funds of $85,000 available for the project as contingent.  

However, when the sole bid came in at over $105,000, leaving a shortfall of $20,000, Council again voted to reject the bid and examine alternatives.  

“The scope of the project and the simplicity of the project leads us to believe that we should be able to get it done cheaper, even in the climate for labour and costs going up,” said Ulriksen.  

Again, the City intends to approach local contractors to see if there is any possibility of proceeding at a cost more in line with the City’s expectations on budget.