Bradford City Council held a special meeting Tuesday night and
confirmed something that many Bradford residents have been saying
for a while – completing Old City Hall is going to be
expensive.

Most of the 30-minute meeting was devoted to City Clerk John
Peterson opening and reading bids for various phases of the
interior work on the city’s landmark building – general
construction at about $2.5 million, heating and air conditioning at
about half a million, and electrical, plumbing, and a fire alarm
and sprinkler system at more than half a million combined.

No bids were awarded at Tuesday’s meeting. Mayor Michele
Corignani said the bids would be turned over to the Office of
Economic and Community Development for review and “possible action
at the next regularly scheduled council meeting.”

Two Bradford contractors were the only ones to submit bids for
the general construction on the interior work at Old City Hall.

Carl E. Swanson & Sons Inc. submitted a base bid of
$2,395,000 for the work, while S.M. Gleason & Co. submitted a
base bid of $2,550,000.

Four companies submitted bids for the heating and air
conditioning work at the century-old building.

The apparent low-bidder was Mazza Sheet Metal of Olean, N.Y.,
who submitted a bid of $504,000; followed by Wayne Crouse Inc. of
Pittsburgh with a bid of $505,000; by Highlander Energy Products
Inc. of Kane with a bid of $635,271; and Anderson Shortell of Olean
with a bid of $655,700.

Two companies submitted bids for the fire alarm and sprinkler
system in the building. Allied Fire Protection Systems Inc. of
Falconer, N.Y., submitted the apparent low bid at $108,637.

The other bid came from ADT Security Services in Florida with a
bid of $135,176.

Meanwhile, Pure Tech of Bradford was the sole bidder for the
electrical work in Old City Hall with a base bid of $375,273.

All of the previous project proposals had been bid in several
ways. The bidders were asked to deduct certain aspects of the
projects from the bid and to give a dollar amount of the deduction.
However, there were no details as to what the alternates were.

The only aspect of the interior renovation not to be bid with
alternates was the plumbing. Two companies had bid on that – Wayne
Crouse Inc. with a bid of $144,000 and Anderson Shortell at
$207,300.

In other business, council members also authorized an
intermediary relending program loan to Pure Tech Inc. in the amount
of $120,000 for the purchase of equipment and other needs for the
Downbeat Restaurant. The loan will be through the OECD.