ASHLAND — The old elevator within the Ashland city building is going to have to grow a little older as officials wait for a bid they can accept.
Ashland Mayor Matt Miller said the lone bid to replace the 30-year-old elevator came in about $100,000 more than the $185,000 estimate.
The city decided in June 2021 that it would use its $150,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds to replace the elevator, expecting at that time the project would wrap by 2022.
VDA Design Group was hired to engineer the project, but it wasn’t until January of this year the city sought bids.
Miller said he had been in talks with several contractors interested in the project, but that they weren’t interested in bidding the project because of the federal requirements attached to it.
“Now, they weren’t worried about the safety requirements, because those are good requirements in place,” Miller said. “It was more of the requirements like who you have to hire for certain work and the many hoops to jump through to complete the project.”
When asked why the lone bid came back so high, Miller said he wasn’t sure.
“I assume it has to do with the rising cost of materials because of inflation,” Miller said.
Assistant Law Director for the City of Ashland Andrew Bush said the city will need to go out for bid again; state law requires it when bids come back higher than 10% of the original project estimate.
Miller said the city has until August to spend the money.
“But we can also apply for an extension — we’ve done that before,” he said.
