Cookeville Public Works selected several new service providers for its annual and semi-annual infrastructure needs following a competitive bidding process that saw a mix of price decreases and significant increases.
Public Works Director Mary Beth Elrod said the city bids out concrete, pavement markings, tire recapping, and pipe services annually for one-year contracts. Elrod said the department also rebids paving asphalt, milling, and rock supplies every six months to manage fluctuating costs.
“So, we do have a new concrete bidder,” Elrod said. “For several years we’ve only had one bid on that. This year, we had a new bidder, Smyrna Ready Mix, and their bid was actually cheaper than our current annual bid rate, and it was about four and a half to five to six percent cheaper.”
Elrod said the city will also see a change in suppliers for tire recapping and retreading services with the selection of Maggart Tire. Elrod said Fortiline Waterworks will serve as the new supplier for metal and plastic pipe, a vendor the city has not utilized in several years.
“I think it’s the economy,” Elrod said. “Everybody is just working through these tariffs that we’ve had in the past year, oil increases, prices just across the board. And so we were very pleased with the numbers we did get. We were concerned about a huge paving increase, but we only had about a half percent to three and a half percent increase on paving across the board. So we are pleased with the numbers we got.”
Elrod said the most significant savings for the city will likely come from the new concrete contract. Elrod said the final savings will depend on the total volume of concrete used over the next year, but the bid from Smyrna Ready Mix represents a decrease of up to six percent.
“Actually the pipe increase was quite a bit,” Elrod said. “That may be driven by the economy, oil prices, tariffs, but we did see a 19 to 32 percent increase from last year’s bid on the HDPE plastic pipe.”
Elrod said the department operates under a strict budget cap for paving, sidewalks, and various projects. Elrod said the city typically installs between $1.8 million and $2 million worth of paving annually, which serves as the spending limit regardless of bid fluctuations.
“Yes, what’s budgeted is what’s budgeted,” Elrod said. “We cannot exceed that amount. We just have to adjust the quantities we get to purchase based on these bids.”
Elrod said the paving contractor will remain Rogers Group, which has been working with the city since March. Elrod said the current contract with Rogers Group will continue through next March.
“So we hope that we will continue paving and move right along with our budgeted amount,” Elrod said.
The Cookeville City Council is expected to vote on the contract awards Thursday night.
