City council voted Monday night to approve the bid award for the Clovis Landmark Square which is located on the intersection of Third Street and Veterans Memorial Parkway. This will award the contract to AMG & Associates (AMG) for the construction of the Clovis Landmark Square.
Before the council began talking about the item councilmember Jose Flores recused himself out of conflict of interests from chambers because the property in question was near a property he has interest in.
The project will cost more than $16 million and will include a new Fresno County Library for Clovis, a new Senior Center and a Transit Center. Also along with the vote on the Landmark Square there was a vote to hire a construction management service that would help with the project.
Also in chambers was the Smittcamp family who donated $1 million on behalf of their parents for the construction of the Landmark Square.
Mayor Drew Bessinger thanked the family for their generosity to the community of Clovis that has extended for decades.
“I want to thank the Smittcamp family for their generosity…we really appreciate you and you are an integral part of our community,” Bessinger said.
After a month of bids the city chose AMG, however there was a discrepancy in the bid because AMG failed to disclose a subcontractor. The city and AMG reworked the bid and it was still the lowest even with the discrepancy added.
The city said that even though there was discrepancy, AMG was still the lowest bid and that they recommended the council award the bid to them.
Councilmember Bob Whalen said that he found the discrepancy not to be a problem and that there are fail safes in case those discrepancies come up in the future.
“I do believe that as a result of what has been brought to our attention that we as a council have an opportunity to make a decision with our eyes wide open,” Whalen said. “The law has remedies if there has been a violation of the law, let the law figure out what the remedies are and what would be appropriate.”
Councilmember Vong Mouanoutoua asked why the need for a construction management service if the city had its own planners and construction managers.
City Manager Luke Serpa said that this was different because it was a bigger construction than what they had previously done and that the city’s construction primarily consisted of roads and smaller projects than the Landmark Square.
The council voted 4-0 with one abstention to award the contract to AMG and award a construction manager service contract.