MONTICELLO – The bid for a new HVAC system at the Piatt County Nursing Home came in higher than expected, but the board plans on moving forward with the project.
“The board previously took on this project to upgrade the nursing home so that it has a medical-level air filtration system,” said Nursing Home Administrator Scott Porter. “We were terribly affected by Covid-19. We were also looking to add an emergency generator, a generator that will power the whole facility. We currently don’t have a generator that will do that.”
Porter said bid packages were sent out and several companies were interested and came to inspect the facility.
“We wanted companies to see what it was like to work inside a continually functioning nursing home because residents would continue to live there during the installation process. But in the end, we received only one bid,” he said.
The bid came from Champaign-based Reliable Mechanical, a firm the nursing home has worked with before.
“I don’t think it was as intimidating for them as it was for other companies because they are used to working in this building,” he said.
The preliminary estimates for all of the work was at $1.1 million, Porter said. However, a more detailed inspection found some issues with the circulation and the bid came in $61,764 over the ‘not to exceed’ amount of $250,000.
A federal grant and ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds will cover most of the project.
“I think if we are able to work efficiently with Reliable to get this moving, we can make that up,” Porter said. “The engineers think that too.”
The board unanimously approved the bid.