By Becky Polaski

Staff Writer

Members of City Council approved issuing a notice of award to each of the three contractors who were the low bidders for work on various facets of the planned Depot Street parking garage. 

“Several months ago we gave them notice of intent to award. This would be given as a notice of award and then in the future you’ll be giving a notice to proceed,” City Manager Dave Greene explained to members of Council. “What this does is it locks in the rates that we have because we found out that the labor rates are going to be changing starting next year along with projected cost increases.”

Along with locking in the rates with the contractors, issuing the notices of award also allows the city additional time to get the funding for the project in place.

“We still need to work out one thing with Section 108,” Greene said. “We’re still working on that. We’re not letting that go by the wayside. We have been working on that and we do have a resolution to present to Council hopefully the first meeting of next year.”

The notices of award applied to the mechanical, electrical and general contracts for the project. The contractors will then be able to get all of their bonds in place so they can move on to the next step of the project.

The notice of award for the mechanical contract was given to Overdorf Mechanicals, Inc. of DuBois in the amount of $266,600. The notice of award for the electrical contract was given to Elco Electrical Company of Ridgway in the amount of $259,350. The notice of award for the general contract was given to Leonard S. Fiore, Inc. of Altoona in the amount of $3,463,500.