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Houghton City Manager Eric Waara had some bad news about the pier project set for downtown. Bids were extended through Tuesday morning, and the results were still higher than anticipated. Waara says the main problem lies in steel prices, which have followed several other commodities to the moon over the past nine months.
Tariffs and supply chain disruptions due to the global response to COVID-19 have combined to create a tight market. Waara says he will be actively working with the project engineer and the low bidder to try and swap out certain materials where practical to help bring the cost down. Another option is to see if the Michigan Economic Development Corporation can provide additional funding for the project. They had agreed to the pier a year ago, but had to redirect the grant funds to COVID-19 relief instead.
The council accepted the request of the Houghton Planning Commission to spend as much as $9,000 for a pre-Charrette workshop on the downtown parking deck and other development possibilities. It is intended to help design a framework that the city can use to make big decisions, while keeping the public involved. A full Charrette will be much more expensive.
The hope is to create a self-sustaining process where city staff learn how to implement the techniques and can facilitate a Charrette on their own in the future.
