The Philomath City Council awarded a contract Monday night to Pacific Excavation for planned improvements on South 11th and South 12th streets.
The project will add curbs, gutters, sidewalks and parking to 11th and 12th between Main and Applegate streets. Plus, an electric vehicle charging station will be installed on 12th Street.
“This is something identified in the Capital Improvement Plan to essentially continue some of the streetscapes energy,” Mayor Christopher McMorran said.
The contract total comes to $630,848, plus a contingency amount of $95,000 to address unknown conditions or issues that may come up during construction.
“We got really good pricing from the contractor on this,” Public Works Director Kevin Fear said. “It was a surprise to the engineer and actually a few of the contractors that called to talk to us were surprised at how low it is.”
The city engineer followed up with Corvallis-based Pacific Excavation to confirm the bid.
“They said they were looking for the work early on and they’re honoring that bid at that price,” Fear said.
With the bid being nearly $170,000 lower than the second-lowest and about $270,000 below the engineer’s estimate, a question about references or examples of completed work came up.
“They paved North and South 19th Street and did the ADA ramps on that last summer for Benton County,” Fear said. “They also did Applegate Street from 21st to 30th several years ago when that was done — both water/sewer and the street rebuild. So they’re a well-known company that’s been around a long time.”
The EV charging station is being funded through a $112,950 block grant from the Oregon Department of Energy. The needed infrastructure will be constructed under the Pacific Excavation contract, while the purchase and installation of the charging equipment will be handled by Evergreen Charging Solutions and its subcontractors under a state purchasing contract.
City Manager Chris Workman said the project will be done this summer, possibly starting as early as May. He said the city has funding for the work but depending on the timing, a 2025-26 fiscal year budget amendment may be needed.
Fear said the contractor will be required to maintain public access to businesses in the project area.