Valley City Council accepts Meridian’s bid for city hall project

The Spokane Valley City Council considered nine bids for construction of the new city hall, picked the lowest and then tweaked it down a bit.

Meridian Construction Inc. bid $11,060,442.40, including sales tax, and 10 alternatives the City Council could pick among. The highest bid was $12.5 million but most fell very close to $11.3 million, likely because building materials were specified by the city, giving contractors little wriggleroom.

After some discussion, the council settled on a full basement which was the more expensive option but provided more storage.

Councilman Ed Pace suggested that excess basement space could be walled off and used as an art gallery.

Councilman Bill Gothmann pointed out that a basement provides cheap square footage if it’s put in as the building is constructed.

The council decided to go without decorative wood ceilings in the lobby and council chambers – which saved nearly $200,000 – and without wooden tops on guardrails, saving $10,000. It also went without steel fencing around the parking lot, saving $213,500. The vehicle lot will still be fenced, but with chain link.

That took the bid down to $10,590,315, and the now five-member council unanimously passed a motion to let Deputy City Manager Mark Calhoun move on with the contract.

The council also approved spending no more than $100,000 to work with Modern Electric Water Company and cable and phone companies to remove power poles and put cables underground along Sprague Avenue in front of the new city hall.

City hall is expected to be finished by March 2017.