BRING CANS OF FOOD TO RIVERFEST 2005
The Riverfest 2005 Committee is requesting that visitors to the celebration bring cans of food with them to the activities in Frontier Park on the St. Charles Riverfront. This is the first year they are conducting a food drive for local food pantries according to committee member, TJ Slattery.
ANOTHER BOAT ON THE RIVERFRONT?
The First Capitol News has learned that Convention and Visitors Bureau member, Brian Hill, has made arrangements for a presentation at the CVB meeting on the 23rd regarding a Riverboat on the St Charles Riverfront. We understand the boat is currently being operated in Glasgow, Missouri and has a floating dock on which a restaurant is operated. That is the only details we have at press time.
The St. Charles Empress currently operates from the St. Charles Riverfront in Frontier Park.
THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMMM
Bids were recently received for the power washing of the wooden shingles on the sides of the St. Charles Senior Center on Fairgrounds Drive. I don’t recall the exact amount of the bids but I believe two were received. One for about $9,000 and one for about $11,000. The lower bidder was going to use ladders to reach the wooden shingles and the higher bid was going to use a cherry picker to reach the shingles. It was thought the higher bid was the best bid because apparently the shingles must be power washed from the top down. If they are washed from the bottom up as suggested using ladders, it is feared they would be damaged. It was then discovered City staff had made a mistake in the bidding. State law requires the winning bidder on public works projects to furnish the City with insurance and a bond. Because of the omission by City staff neither bid complied with the law.
New bids were taken and were higher than the original bids. It was discovered by adding the insurance and bond requirements several thousand dollars was added to the cost. I do not believe the first two bidders participated in the second round of bidding. The City staff was perplexed and did not know what to do. A call was made to one of the bidders asking them to reduce their bid. They refused and it was also pointed out it was apparently illegal or unethical to call for reductions after the bids were opened. What to do! What to do! “Maybe,” someone remarked, “we should rebid the job”
We have a better idea. The City owns a power washer. The City also has several vehicles with Cherry Pickers attached. Wouldn’t it be a simple procedure to drive one of those vehicles to the Senior Center and have a City employee use the City’s power washer and wash the shingles? The job could be done in several hours and the taxpayers would see a savings of several thousand dollars.
ATTENTION VETERANS AND ARMED FORCES PERONNEL
On Sunday, July 3rd the City Council is honoring Veterans and members of our Armed Forces during the Riverfest 2005 activities. The City Council approved an additional night of fireworks for that evening.
The June 25th edition of the First Capitol News will be a commemorative edition honoring our Veterans. If you would like your stories or photographs published in that issue we will need to receive them at our office no later than 5pm Tuesday, June 21st. We realize your service photographs are very important to you and all photographs will be returned. For additional information please call 636-724-1955.
