By EMILY SPARACINO / Staff Writer

CHELSEA – Following a lengthy discussion during a pre-council meeting on Sept. 15, Chelsea City Council members were unanimous in their decision to approve bids for the first phase of the city’s new sports complex off Shelby County 11.

The council voted to accept the lowest and best bid of $1,133,187 from Coston General Contractors for Phase 1, along with $11,500 for decorative fencing at the complex’s entrance, and the lowest and best bid of $348,150 from Titan Electric for lighting and electrical components.

“We needed to add an alternate to this contract for decorative fencing to the park entrance,” Niven said of the Phase 1 bid from Coston General Contractors, which covers the paving of about 220 parking spaces and three baseball fields.

“Coston was the low bid,” City Engineer Frank Spencer said. “They are very good at building ball fields (and) a good contractor to work with.”

In an hour-long discussion in pre-council, the council weighed options regarding the project’s bids, completion schedule and funding.

Mayor Earl Niven said he and Spencer had outlined parts of the project the city could delay in order to reduce the contract price on the bid for the first phase.

Spencer said one way to reduce the price would be to pave only part of the parking lot with asphalt and pave the rest later for the same amount of money or less, and to grade the walking track but wait to pave it until later.

“We would have the track in place, and come back and stone it and asphalt it,” Niven said.

Another option, Spencer said, would be to delay the purchase and installation of wheel stops in the parking spaces for roughly $16,000.

Spencer’s proposed deductions from the original project plans totaled about $75,000.

“Those are my suggestions,” he said, adding that the contractor made suggestions for deductions of about $53,000, bringing the total to roughly $126,000. “What I’m deducting can be easily added when the money is available.”

Niven said the city has $64,000 earmarked for capital expenses like the sports complex as a result of a 1-percent sales tax increase enacted in August 2014.

“We borrowed $6 million. Our monthly payment on that now is $36,000, and $64,000 is the amount left over after our mortgage payment,” Niven explained. “We put that in the capital expense account. It is additional money that goes in that fund to pay off capital investment.”

Niven said he wants the city to avoid borrowing more money to fund the project, even if more time is required between phases.

“I think our main purpose is to try to get this done without borrowing any more money,” he said. “There’s certainly projects we need to do if money is available.”

Councilman Tony Picklesimer and councilwoman Juanita Champion expressed support of the idea of borrowing enough money now to complete the first and second phases of the project.

“I think we need to borrow what we need to borrow to make this place … the showplace that we’ve dreamed of,” Picklesimer said.

Spencer said Phase 2 could cost about $2 million with groundwork and field construction.

“What comes with ball fields? Expense,” Niven said. “You’re talking about operational expense. You’ve got to have a plan to pay that money back.”

Councilman Dale Neuendorf proposed doing the full ball park in Phase 1 as planned, and borrowing $126,000 against the city’s CDs with a balloon payment to pay in August 2016.

“I’m not in favor of skimping on Phase 1 and not doing some things that would make it really nice,” Neuendorf said.

Councilman David Ingram suggested the entire parking lot be available for patrons to use and that the same contractor construct the batting cages, minus the roofs to be added later, in order to avoid future issues with outside contracts.

Niven said he would compile a final breakdown of the city’s finances for the council to review before deciding on how to proceed with the remainder of the project.

Spencer said the first phase is scheduled to be finished by May 2016.

The council has not yet awarded bids for the concession stand and maintenance building.