After earmarking $1.2 million in its 2022 capital plan for repairs at the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter, the East Hampton Town Board will be putting the job out to bid again after “the bids came back much higher than anticipated,” Deputy Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said last week.
The capital plan would have authorized bonds for up to $330,000 for a roof replacement at the facility, and another $880,000 for replacement of its heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system.
But when the town put out a request for proposals earlier this year, “packaging it as one project, the bids came back much higher than anticipated,” Ms. Burke-Gonzalez said via email after last Thursday’s town board meeting.
The lowest bid the town received for the package-deal repair job was $2.32 million — nearly twice what the bond authorization allowed for.
“At the advice of our engineers, we rejected the bids and looked to see if we could do some value engineering,” said Ms. Burke-Gonzalez, “and reduce the scope of the two projects.”
The town will now issue two separate requests for proposals in January — one for the roof repairs and one for the H.V.A.C., “and amend the bond authorization” said Ms. Burke-Gonzalez.
Ms. Burke-Gonzalez said that “inflation, supply chain issues, staff shortages, fuel costs coming out to the East End,” all played a role in the higher-than-anticipated bids. “We’re seeing increased costs across many of our construction projects.”
Earlier this week, the RECenter’s executive director, Molly Tuzil, announced that the pool would be closed through tomorrow while the roof and pool equipment is repaired. The locker rooms are to be closed starting today and will reopen on Jan. 1.
