MANSFIELD — The city’s Board of Control on Tuesday unanimously awarded more than $20 million in 2025 infrastructure improvement contracts, with most of the funds coming from outside the community through grants.
All of the projects have previously been approved by City Council and the contracts awarded by the Board of Control followed a bidding process that saw multiple contractors apply for each, according to city engineer Bob Bianchi.
The largest awards were for the construction and inspection of the Main Street Corridor Improvement Project, set to begin in late February or early March.
The Kokosing Construction Co. received a $17,751,811 contract for the streetscape project, which will be a complete upgrade of Main Street from First to Sixth streets and Park Avenue from Main to Diamond streets.
Structurepoint, an engineering firm with offices in Columbus, will be paid around $1,581,051 million to provide inspection services during the work.
The Kokosing price was nearly 14 percent above the estimate of $15,560,000.
The cost of the water and sewer lines is the biggest difference between the estimate and the bids submitted, Bianch said previously.
Mayor Jodie Perry had said the entire water main, nearly a century old, beneath Main Street in the project area will be replaced as part of the project with additional funds coming from city water and sewer funds.
“The last thing that we want to do is put this beautiful new streetscape in and then have to keep digging it up for water main breaks,” the mayor said.
“While there is an increase, I want the public to understand what that money is being used for,” she said. “That replacement is a big part of the project.”
Other Main Street construction bids came from Shelly & Sands Inc. ($20,266,631) and Complete General Construction ($22,193,418), according to Bianchi.
“There are hundreds of work items in this project,” Bianchi said. “I am really thankful for all of the bidders on this particular project. It takes a long time for a contactor to put together numbers on a project like this.
“We certainly love the interest and we are pleased with Kokosing Construction and the work they have done in Mansfield. Of course, they are a very large company and are very capable of completing this project,” the engineer said.
The project, expected to take about 18 months to complete with work being done in stages, involves replacing water mains, storm sewers, streetscape amenities, streetscape furnishings, decorative hardscape, sidewalks, curb ramps, signals, landscaping and lighting, Bianchi said.
The north and south plazas will be fully renovated, including fountain reconstruction.
The work was designed in partnership with K.E. McCartney & Associates from Mansfield. With federal funds involved in the effort, the city could not also use KEM for inspection services.
He said four firms, including Structurepoint, submitted proposals to handle the inspection portion of the project.
“The committee ranked them and ultimately selected Structurepoint. There are lots of requirements and regulations that have to be met and this project needs to be carefully and meticulously inspected,” he said.
“Structurepoint is a very good, very large and very capable firm,” Bianchi said.
He said the company had initially proposed to do the work for $1.69 million, but the city negotiated that figure down.
“We appreciated the negotiation process with them. I think it worked out really well and we’re excited to have them on board,” Bianchi said.
The largest single source of funds for the project comes from a $7.3 million federal grant obtained in 2022 through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity competitive grant program.
(Funding sources for the Main Street Corridor Improvement Project are outline above. The remaining $450,000 came from the Richland County Board of Commissioners in November through the waiver of a jail services contract.)
Other contracts awarded Tuesday were to:
Three other contracts were approved on Tuesday by the Board of Control, projects all previously approved by City Council.
— Smith Paving & Excavating Co. from Norwalk received a $608,642 contract to construct a 10-feet wide concrete path along Millsboro Road between Trimble Road and Marion Avenue.
Smith Paving had the lowest of six bids for a project that had been estimated at $815,000.
“This is part of our long-range plan for the connectivity of pedestrian movements and active transportation through Mansfield,” Bianchi said.
The work will largely be done in the summer of 2025 when nearby Discovery School is closed for vacation, he said.
The entire project will be funded through federal and state dollars, Bianchi said.
— Smith Paving was also awarded a $365,315 contract for planned improvements at Johns Park and King Street parks. It was the lowest of eight bids submitted, according to Bianchi, who said the work was estimated at $575,000.
Estimated to begin in March 2025, approximately 4,315 feet — nearly a mile — of concrete walkways will be installed at the two parks. Accessible curb ramps will be installed at pedestrian access points along the road.
In addition to the perimeter walking paths, a basketball court will also be installed at King Street Park.
The project will be funded by American Rescue Plan Act dollars. Bianchi gained Board of Control approval to add an additional $20,000 to the contract for contengencies.
— Pummel Construction Services from Columbus received a $200,557 contract to build a pedestrian bridge in Middle Park that will re-connect the park to Park Avenue West. It was the lowest of six bids that been estimated at $250,000.
Funds from the city’s ARPA dollars will cover the cost of the project.
Construction is set to begin at the start of 2025 and conclude around June.
“Pummel Construction is a newer company. They started in 2020 and have constructed 55 projects since then. We reached out to them and they are very capable of doing this work. They’ve done a lot of concrete and steel work before,” Bianchi said.