The Hermiston Urban Renewal Agency on Feb. 12, 2024, awarded a $315,000 contract to Odyssey Contracting to reconstruct the intersection at Southeast Second Street and South Highway 395.

HERMISTON — The Hermiston Urban Renewal Agency on Feb. 12 awarded a contract to reconstruct the Southeast Second Street and South Highway 395 intersection.

Odyssey Contracting won the contract after coming in with the lowest bid at $314,747.50.

The Hermiston City Council approved the design for the intersection in April 2023. City staff also held a neighborhood meeting in March 2023 to gather feedback on the proposed design.

Hermiston City Planner Clint Spencer, who also serves as the city’s urban renewal director, said at the time the change will enhance the safety of an existing intersection that he described as “dangerous.”

The project was bid in March 2023 and the city received only two proposals. Spencer said both bids exceeded the project budget of $360,000.

“So, we scaled back the project a little bit,” he said.

As a result, the urban renewal agency rejected all bids and chose to remove some project components and rebid in a more favorable bidding climate in the winter. Spencer said to save money, landscape elements and seat walls were removed, and one of the two columns was moved to a bid alternative to be constructed only if funds allow.

The revised project was rebid in January. Along with Odyssey Contracting’s bid, three other bids were received — $396,280 from Nelson Construction Corp., $492,539.70 from Silver Creek Contracting and $713,329 from Cascade Silver Corp.

The engineer’s estimate for the revised project is $329,000 for the main project and an additional $70,000 for construction alternatives of irrigation and a second gateway column for a total estimate of $399,000. Odyssey Contracting’s bid came in around $84,000 under the estimate.

In addition to the $315,000 for construction costs, Spencer said an additional fee will be required for construction engineering and oversight from the city’s engineers with civil engineering firm of Anderson Perry. Construction oversight is estimated to be between $20,000 and $30,000 bringing the project total to $345,000.

Extra days to pay utility bills

In other action, residents will have an extra 10 days to pay their sewer, water and garbage bills after the council passed an ordinance to extend the payment due date.

Payment for water, sewage and solid waste bills currently are due within 10 days of issuance and all bills that are not paid within 10 days are considered delinquent and an additional charge is imposed.

City Manager Byron Smith said it is taking longer these days for mail to reach its recipients, making it harder for customers to pay their bills on time.

“The increased time it takes to move the mail now … it puts our customers in jeopardy of having late fees,” Smith said. “And if they were to pay by mail, it just makes it worse. This just gives them a little more comfort for them to be able to pay their bill on time.”

“It makes common sense,” Mayor Dave Drotzmann said.

The passage of the ordinance now gives customers 20 days to pay their bills before incurring a late fee.

The change goes into effect 30 days after the passage of the ordinance.