Town of Wheatfield awards bid for new highway facility

By Benjamin Joe

The final bids for a new highway facility in the Town of Wheatfield have been chosen. Highway Superintendent Paul Siegmann said the 60-foot-by-80-foot pole barn will be located at 6860 Ward Road.

The bids were handled by Town Clerk Kathy Harrington and split into three categories for the project: the building, the concrete floor, and the overhanging doors to the structure.

Parco Building Systems in Newfane won the work for the actual building with a low bid of $129,675. The only other bidder for the construction of the building was Loyal Nine Development from Rochester, which offered to do the job for $241,900.

The concrete floor will be taken care of by Henwood Construction from Niagara Falls, with a low bid of $39,000. Henwood Construction beat out the next lowest bid of $54,490 from Parco, $65,000 from Loyal Nine Development, $77,000 from Premier Concrete of Buffalo, and $105,000 from DBPM Enterprise of North Tonawanda.

The final piece of the job is the overhanging door, which was bid on by several companies, including Oarco, Loyal Nine Development, Ridge Overhead Door, Hayes Door, Rich’s Expert Door and Hamburg Overhead Door. The winner of the bidding was Ridge Overhead Door, which gave the lowest price for the project at $23,980.

Siegmann said the purpose of the building was for more cold storage for the town’s highway equipment.

He said that, “as the town grows, the need for more equipment grows, too,” and noted the Town of Wheatfield’s population is now at 20,000.

The new structure will have four bays. Siegmann said the design was done in-house to save money on engineering.

Siegmann also said the Town Board has been supportive of his department and he, in return, has been able to get grants for bridges and equipment, “so I’ve saved the town some money; probably $3 million in the 11 years I’ve been here.”

Construction on the building will probably take three weeks, Siegmann said, and the concrete pad and doors an additional three weeks. All in all, construction should begin in May and be done by mid-June or July.

“We’ll also be doing some of the site work. Leveling stone in the area, so they can just come and build it,” he said. “We don’t always have to take the lowest bid. Sometimes it’s the best value. These are all reputable companies. We’ve heard good things about them. It just worked out that it was the lowest bid.”