The Cape Girardeau city government decided to scrap the current bids for improvements to the Shawnee Sports Complex and construction of the new community center at Shawnee Park on Monday night after they came in well above estimated project costs earlier this month.

The city council voted unanimously to reject all bids submitted for the project, redraw the project specifications and accept new bids.

Beginning the process from scratch was one of two options presented to the council, recommended by city staff. The other involved accepting the apparent low bid and making up $179,000 from savings in other projects, drawing money from the Parks and Recreation Foundation and delaying an equipment purchase to bring the project within budget.

Mayor Jay Knudtson and some council members were apologetic about the move, admitting the city made mistakes in the initial bidding process for the $4.46 million project that led to a low construction bid that was more than $178,000 over the budgeted construction costs when necessary lighting was included for three new softball fields. That lighting wasn't included in the base project bid estimate, but was later deemed by the city to be necessary.

When the city initially advertised for bids, it had $3.35 million available for the construction project. When bids were discussed two weeks ago the low bid was at least $250,000 more than available funds.

Materials provided to the council before Monday's meeting listed the funding available for project construction at $3.4 million.

Knudtson said it was clear that, after an analysis of the bids that were submitted, the city needed to make modifications to its project specification in order to bring the cost in line with the city's budgeted expenditure on the project, which is being funded by a sales tax approved by voters in April 2008.

In a study session before the council meeting, Knudtson and council members heard from contractors who submitted bids on the project and were displeased with the idea of rejecting the bids and beginning the process anew.

Knudtson apologized that the bids had become public, making known the cost each contractor submitted and possibly jeopardizing contractors' business by revealing their costs for services.

"Everybody's got their numbers up and everybody's cards are on the table in this thing," Knudtson said.

Knudtson said the events had put "a cloud over this process."

Parks and recreation director Dan Muser said one bid had come in late and was opened, but had been disregarded. "It didn't play any part in the process we went through after that," Muser said.

Councilman John Voss said the bid problems had a "silver lining" in that they exposed weaknesses in the bid process. "We can't afford to do this one wrong because there is no wiggle room in our money," Voss said of redrawing the project specifications.

A letter to the council signed by Muser and interim city manager Ken Eftink said due to the project's complexity the true cost range of the project wasn't known until the project was bid because of "considerable additional up front design work and cost analysis." Now the city has a better idea of project costs and what items can be eliminated or modified, including some labor costs, to bring the project within budget, the letter stated.

The council also passed an ordinance increasing the charges for sewer, water and solid waste services by 5 percent, 5 percent and 2 percent, respectively, to help make up for an anticipated revenue shortfall for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The change will increase the average residential utility bill by $1.95 per month, according to city estimates, and the average commercial utility bill by $6.87 monthly. New transfer station fees of a minimum $10 per load disposal and $25 for loads not properly covered and secured under state law were also added.

The council also passed the first reading of a budget that included reductions of up to 3 percent in some department budgets and a reduction of seven full-time positions through attrition to help make up for a roughly $660,000 shortfall in revenue. No members of the public spoke during a public hearing on the budget.

msanders@semissourian.com

388-3652