Improvements to Kenai Municipal Park have experienced a couple technical setbacks that could delay the length of construction.
The city opened the bid process for the park equipment installations in April with the hopes of awarding the project at May 6 City Council meeting.
Wedemeyer: “The first bid opening actually had two bidders, one of them withdrew their bid minutes before the bid opening, they had made a mistake in their math. The second was delivered by Fed-Ex and Fed-Ex had promised them that the bid would be received by the City of Kenai by 11 am and it was not received until after 2 pm.”
Public Works Director Sean Wedemeyer said the additional bid process may have delayed the start by about 2 weeks.
Although Wedemeyer said the improved playground equipment is still expected to be finished this summer, one other technicality could impact it.
Wedemeyer: “The project contains something that’s called engineered wood fibers, it’s now being used in playgrounds instead of sand, it’s kind of a wood chip that does not give you splinters and is very soft when you fall. There used to be a plant in Anchorage that was certified to make these wood chips. They let their certification lapse and now the only plant in Alaska is in Fairbanks. That plant can only make so much of this engineered wood fiber each week. That will probably be the controlling factor in when the project gets finished.”
The city is expecting bids to be submitted by 2:00 pm today, after which they will be opened.