PLAINFIELD — After learning that the vast majority of the cost will likely be paid by federal dollars, local officials decided to accept a bid for work to remove silt from the recreation field, after deeming the bid too expensive earlier this week.
A town official says the hope is that the cleanup work will start next week.
At its regular meeting Monday night, the select board was presented with two bids to clean silt from the recreation field. The field sits next to the Winooski River. Silt was deposited there during July’s flooding, covering the basketball court and the skate park.
Officials had been working on removing the silt since the flood, without much success. Officials have said because the silt came from floodwaters, it’s likely toxic, so they don’t want residents playing on or around it. They suggested the silt be moved out of the way, off the field and then seeded with grass so that the silt would be cleaned.
The town put the project out to bid recently and received two responses.
Abare Lawncare, a Barre company, submitted a bid of $13,000. This bid included moving the equipment for the skate park out of the way before the silt would be removed and then putting the equipment back.
Darkwing Enterprises, out of Wolcott, also submitted a bid of a little over $11,000. This bid did not mention moving equipment before the silt would be removed.
Board members agreed Monday that the bid amounts were a bit higher than they were comfortable with. Resident George Cushing, whose son Jeremy worked with another man to resurface the basketball court in 2020 using crowdfunding, said he had heard from a third contractor who reported he could do the work for less. Cushing said he wanted the court cleaned off quickly so that it does not get damaged, if it hasn’t been damaged already by silt that’s been sitting on top of it for months.
Board members decided to hold off on accepting a bid until they received more details about Cushing’s suggested contractor.
The board then held a special meeting Thursday night to again discuss the bids. The third contractor, Denis Fowler, of Plainfield, had submitted a bid of $7,000 for the work, but he would only clean off the court, not the skate park. That was a nonstarter for board members, who said they wanted all of the silt removed, not just some of it.
Board member Tim Davis said, “It doesn’t make sense to not clean up both (the skate park and the court).”
Board members briefly discussed applying for a grant to remove the silt, but they were told if the town received the grant, the work likely wouldn’t get underway until next year and they wanted the silt removed before winter sets in.
Board Chair Riley Carlson said he’s since been told by Town Clerk Robin Miller that the vast majority of the cost to remove silt from the field will likely be covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. If that’s the case, board members said over 90% of the cost would be reimbursed by the federal government, with the rest being paid by the town as a match.
With cost no longer an impediment, board members unanimously voted to accept Abare’s bid of $13,000 for the work.
Cushing said Fowler reported he could get started as soon as this weekend. He asked when Abare could start the work.
Carlson said he would reach out to Abare to find out when they could begin. The motion approved by board members accepting the bid from Abare noted the work must start before winter sets in.
Carlson wrote in an email Friday that he was able to make contact with Abare, and the company hopes to start on the work next week. He said Abare would have a better idea of what its schedule will look like once it was finished with its work Friday.
Town officials had planned to pile the silt out of the way once it’s removed from the field. But board member Jim Volz said the town has since been told that a berm of silt sitting next to the river would not make those at the state Agency of Natural Resources happy. Instead, officials said the silt would likely be spread around so that it would lie flat in the woods next to the field, rather than a pile. Silt would then be seeded with grass to help clean it.
eric.blaisdell
@timesargus.com
