City rejects center GMP

By: 
Jason Ferguson
It’s back to the drawing board for the Custer Community Center, as the Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) for the project, presented by project manager at risk Ainsworth Benning, was rejected by the Custer City Council at the council’s Monday evening meeting.
Ainsworth Benning presented a GMP of $5,364,911, well over the $4.5 million the city had set as the amount it wanted to borrow for the project after a review of its finances and borrowing power.
In July the council formally approved  the city’s borrowing $4.5 million to complete the community center, a goal of the city’s since it took possession of the former Custer Elementary building nine years ago. Toby Morris of Dougherty & Co., LLC from Sioux Falls, underwriter of the bonds the city was to issue to complete the project, was at that meeting to discuss funding options.
At Monday’s meeting, alderwoman Peg Ryan said she felt there was a lot of items left out of the final price and it still was $800,000 over what the city planned to spend.
The council unanimously rejected the GMP and did not lay out a plan for where the project now lies.
“We will have to sort out where we go from here,” Mayor Corbin Herman said.
In other news from the Dec. 16 meeting, the council:
• Approved an ACES Engineering proposal for design and bidding of four projects in town, including pavement and draining improvements along Bryden Drive between Harney and Street and Leisinger Lane, pavement on the alley between north 2nd street and north 3rd street, drainage improvements between south third street and south fourth street and drainage improvements at the northeast corner of Gordon and south 10th streets.
Morrison said the lump sum fee of $18,544 was fair, and it is hoped all of the projects could be done at the same time when construction starts to save the city money.
• Approved changes to the city’s deer harvesting program, as the processing of the deer can no longer been done locally. Instead, after the deer are killed they will be transported to a cooler trailer in Rapid City that belongs to the South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks (GFP). From there they will be tested for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), and deer with a clean bill of health will be transported by GFP to be processed before they are returned to Custer to be given to The Storehouse.
City planning administrator Tim Hartmann said the change may cost the city a few hundred more dollars, as the city will be charged $75 per deer and has been granted approval by GFP to take 75 deer out of city limits. However, he said he anticipates about 10 percent of the deer culled to have CWD and be unusable.
• Approved waiving utilities for properties submitted with the Hazard Mitigation Grant for removal.  
At the previous meeting of the council, voted to pursue grant money that, if awarded would help it purchase two pieces of property within its floodplain along French Creek that would then subsequently be razed and the area turned into green space.
Through these grants, money could be obtained that would pay 75 percent of the cost to acquire the property, with the city to pay the remaining 25 percent. The grants are under the federal government’s Disaster Relief Act.
Total project cost would be around $212,814, of which the city and property owners would pay around $53,000. The owners of the property paid for the cost of having their property appraised and have indicated a willingness to accept 75 percent of the appraised value, meaning the city would end up paying just over $10,000 out of its coffers for the property.

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