West Wharf Repair Contract Awarded To Schumack Engineered Construction Of Clinton

• demolition and removal of existing West Wharf debris for $51,815
• materials required to repair West Wharf, including wall reconstruction, parapet reconstruction, geotextile filter fabric and crushed stone placement, chinking and resetting of displaced stones, repointing of mortar joints, etc. for $261,326
• furnishing and installing materials required to construct timber curbing along the perimeter of West Wharf for $10,350
• furnishing and installing a prefabricated steel ladder for $5,750
• performing revetment repairs on West Wharf, including but not limited to removal of unsuitable stone, resetting of displaced armor stone, placement of additional armor stone, etc. for $106,547

Schumack Engineered Construction has worked on several town projects including the repairs to Middle Beach Road and to the Surf Club retaining wall.

Schumack's bid came in at $1,244,162 and was submitted so that it could be broken out into 11 items so the town could determine the best way to proceed with the project with available funds. Schumack was the low bidder, with the only other bid coming from Machnik Bros. of Old Lyme, CT, which originally submitted a bid of $1,350,000, said Madison Director of Public Works & Town Engineer Michael J. Ott at a Board of Selectman meeting about a month ago. 

Ott said Monday that the project was not rebid since then, but that certain elements were prioritized and others were put aside for the time being, so that the town could do the project for the amount of money available, which is the $500,000 that was set aside as a special appropriation for the project. East Wharf will not be done at this time and plans for an improved deck will be put aside as well. 

In its April 5 letter to the town, Schumack said repairs to East Wharf, including a protective revetment, will cost $346,602. 

Ott said the repair plans have been reviewed by the town's Planning & Zoning Commission, and by the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection. 

Ott said the letter provided April 5 was not a re-bidding of the project, but rather an explanation of the original bid. "The language in the contract documents ... allows the owner, based on the availability of funds to decrease the scope of th work and to drop items," he said. "We didn't ask anyone to change their pricing ... this is  not a rebid." 

Ott said the original estimate for the work of $500,000 was done after the wharves were damaged by Hurricane Irene in August of 2011. The storm did an enormous amount of damage to the town and other repairs were prioritized in front of the wharves. The original estimate of $500,000 did not include repairs to the revetments, which are structures built mostly underwater to protect the wharves. 

"The total estimate for the work was originally $500,000, so we [the town] did a special appropriation for that," Ott said. "Subsequent to that, we did a design with the additional measures." Ott said the town has received some indication from the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA] that it will consider reimbursing the town for the protective revetment work, since it will make it more likely that the wharves will withstand future storms. 

Ott said a coastal engineer was hired to help figure out how to rebuild the wharves so that they would stand a better chance of surviving the next big storm. "Prior to Irene, the stone revetments sloped down too low. When it's done this time ... the revetments are designed to take the wave energy, not the vertical sea wall." 

The town's goal is to be reimbursed to the full extent allowed by FEMA, which is 75 percent, Ott said. 

Ott said Schumack is ready to start work almost immediately. The goal was to have the work done before Memorial Day, but he said he is not sure whether that is now possible, since the town took additional time to award the bid while considering the different elements and how best to prioritize the work. "But we'll give it out best shot," he said. 

Ott said it would be possible to add the improved decking at a later date, if funds become available. And the work on East Wharf could be funded by the FEMA reimbursement, the selectmen said.