North Hempstead council members conducted a phone vote to award a contract for the Leeds Pond culvert reconstruction project, town officials said last week, following questions from the state Department of Labor about the contractor.
Woodstock Contruction, the lowest of two bidders on the project, offered to do the project for $1.52 million – the bulk of which will be paid for by a $1.5 million state grant the town received to repair the culvert.
“The board was polled and decided to award the contract,” a town spokeswoman said.
While the contract’s formal ratification will happen at the Sept. 6 meeting, the phone vote guarantees that the contract will be awarded then.
The culvert, built by the town in the 1950s, allows Leeds Pond to drain into Manhasset Bay. Its last major repairs were nearly 40 years ago, according to Plandome Manor Mayor Barbara Donno.
Currently its supporting walls, which hold back dirt surrounding it, are nearly “nonexistent,” Donno previously said. Parts of North Plandome Road crossing the culvert have also dipped and village-owned sidewalks have been damaged.
Bid results on the project were first opened on July 19, two days after a board meeting. The rewarding of the contract was then pulled from the Aug. 14 town agenda because the state Department of Labor had questions on whether the company was compliant with apprenticeship laws.
The department ultimately signed off on the contractor.
Donno said last Wednesday, upon learning of the Labor Department’s approval, that while the village seemed to have a greater “sense of urgency” than the town, she is happy the project is going ahead.
“That concerned me a little bit, but I appreciate that they are now moving forward with it,” Donno said.
A town spokeswoman said there is no firm start and end date yet, but that the town plans to work with Woodstock Construction to iron out a construction schedule for the project after the contract is rewarded.
