The Great Neck Library Board of Trustees authorized a construction manager this week to begin seeking bids to replace a cooling tower used for air conditioning at the library’s Main Branch.
During a special meeting on Tuesday in the Main Branch Multi-Purpose room, the board unanimously approved a resolution to allow Park East Construction to begin seeking bids from subcontractors of the project, which will replace the 170-ton cooling tower used at the library facility. As construction manager, Park East will be paid 7 percent of the final cost of the project.
“They have a good track record with us,” Library Trustee Varda Solomon said of Park East. “We have a good relationship with them and they also came in as the lowest bid, so all these were factors that led us to say that this was the right fit for us.”
The board received three bids from construction manager firms for the cooling tower replacement project, which will not exceed $400,000.
The unsuccessful bids were for $45,000 and $29,000, while Park East’s bid came in at an estimate of $28,000 if the project ends up costing the maximum allotted amount, Library Director Jane Marino said.
“Once the construction manager is brought on board, then he will bid that project out to subcontractors,” Marino said. “Then he will bring those bids to the board so that the board can see what individual elements will cost from the cooling tower right on down to the wood.”
While Park East’s bid came in as the lowest of the three, Marino said the firm’s fee will likely be less than $28,000 because she does not expect the project to end up meeting the maximum total cost of $400,000.
“That’s a conservative estimate,” Marino said. “We honestly don’t think it’s going to be that high.”
The library has been dealing with the replacement of its cooling tower since its original air-conditioning unit failed in June. The trustees previously voted to rent a temporary cooling-tower unit from June 30 until Oct. 7.
“This is a project that’s important to the board,” Marino said. “It’s been important to the board since last summer. It’s certainly important to me. I think this library has done a lot of this, ‘well, we’re going to fix the building so we’ll put it off.'”
“It’s important to get this done,” she added. “I think that Park East is absolutely the construction management firm to do it and I have every confidence that our fee to them will come in lower than $28,000.”
The funds to complete the project will be taken from the Main Building Special Fund, Marino said.
Accepting the bid from Park East based upon a percentage of the final cost of the project was important to the board, Soloman said.
“Their interests and ours might not always coincide,” she said. “What my fellow trustees pointed out to me, and rightfully so, is that when they go out and get bids for the cooling tower, if we feel that the costs are excessive we can reject all their bids or scale it down so that we ultimately do control both their fee and our costs.”
Reach reporter John Santa by e-mail at jsanta@theislandnow.com or by phone at 516.307.1045 x203
