The Genesee County Legislature’s Public Service Committee this afternoon approved the acceptance of a $758,980.80 bid by Concrete Applied Technologies Corp. of Alden – one of 12 bids submitted to Highway Superintendent Tim Hens – to replace the Upton Road over Bowen Creek bridge in the Town of Batavia.
Due to COVID-19 precautions, the meeting was held remotely via Zoom videoconferencing.
In a highly-competitive bidding process, CATCO’s bid was just $650 less than the next lowest bid, Hens said, adding that he is aware of the company’s solid reputation.
“We have never worked directly with them but they have been involved with the City (of Batavia) on a few projects,” he said. “They did the Main Street project about 20 years ago and they have a very good reputation. They’re a well run company and they do a lot of work in Buffalo and Rochester.”
According to the resolution that was voted upon, 95 percent of the cost will be covered by federal aid with the remaining 5 percent to come from the county’s Reserve Fund.
Hens said CATCO’s bid is $68,000 less than the engineers’ estimate of probable construction costs.
Work is expected to begin next spring or summer.
In other action, the committee:
- Voted in favor of a one-year contract with Safe Driver Solutions of Dansville, effective Jan. 1, for federally required drug and alcohol testing, terminating a previous pact with Partners in Safety of Middletown.
Hens said a couple issues factored into the decision, including having a company closer to Genesee County and Safe Driver Solutions’ pricing procedures.
Partners in Safety charges the county for all of its drivers, even if they aren't selected for random drug and alcohol testing, he said.
“It just happens to be the timing of our renewal of our annual contract, and their (Safe Driver Solutions) pricing structure is different because they only charge you for the actual people who get selected randomly,” Hens said.
He explained that "the pool is actually much (larger) because the way they operate under federal rules, they basically create a driver pool with all of their clients – so we get lumped in with the towns in Livingston County and Livingston County highway.”
“It’s a bigger group of people so we’re not hitting as many employees on an annual basis, and essentially not getting charged for that.”
Hens said he anticipates saving around $1,000 annual with Safe Driver Solutions and likes the fact that the county will be working with a local company to address issues concerning screening, post-accident responses and reasonable suspicious responses. Per the contract, Safe Driver Solutions staff members travel to the highway department to do the testing.
- Voted to add a second citizen representative to the Criminal Justice Advisory Council, following up on CJAC’s decision at a meeting in September to make the committee as diverse as possible.
To make room for the citizen rep, the Genesee County Bar Association delegate has been removed in light of the appointee’s recent retirement and a sufficient number of attorneys and law enforcement members on the committee.
The CJAC, created in 1981, services to promote public good and safety through improved coordination and cooperation among criminal justice agencies and other organizations in the community. More than 30 people from law enforcement, human services and social services agencies are on the committee.
