ASHLAND — Ashland City Council has approved the additional spending of $169,407 on the rebuilding of Lot B, a city-owned parking lot.
Crews finished work on the city’s largest downtown parking lot in January, but several items were added to the original contract toward the end of the project, said Ashland Mayor Matt Miller.
The items, technically, were not “change orders,” said Miller, because they weren’t originally in the contract between the city and Simonson Construction Services Inc., the firm hired for the job.
Items added were a decorative railing that lines Town Run along the border of the new parking lot along Claremont Avenue, a concrete pad and sidewalk behind South Street Grill and Substance Church, new lighting, riprap along the sides of the creek and a sidewalk next to the Chamber of Commerce building.
The original estimate for the project was $225,000, according to a news report from July 2021.
In April 2022, council sought bids for the project and gave administration to enter into a contract, with an estimated cost at $550,000.
The sole bidder, according to Miller, was Simonson with a project cost of $570,184.
“So, yes, we definitely went over and above the original contract,” Miller said. “But that’s because we just flat out added things, because crews were already there and we wanted to get it all done.”
The money for the project came from the city’s street fund, which receives revenue from grants and income tax, Miller said.
The mayor added that the reason the city delayed voting on the contract amendment for the additional spending of $169,000 was because there weren’t enough council members to vote, as Dan Lawson was ill at one meeting and Angela Woodward underwent rotator cuff surgery and missed another.
Councilman Jason Chio abstained from voting because of his affiliation with the company. He works as Simonson’s safety director.
