FARMINGTON — Selectmen will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 20, at the Town Office to review the only bid for the Whittier Road and Sandy River bank stabilization project.

Minutes before bids were due to be opened Monday at the Town Office, Town Manager Richard Davis opened one from E.L. Vining & Son Inc. of Farmington. It was for $258,947, with an additional $84,369 for option items, for a potential total of $343,316.

Option items include moving more clay from the site, or dredging more stone than anticipated, he said.

Bid requests were mailed to seven companies, Public Works Director Denis Castonguay said. Vining was the only one received.

“The bid appears to be within our anticipated budget range,” Davis said.

Before the board meets Tuesday, an environmental consultant hired by the town and a representative from the Federal Emergency Management Agency are expected to review the bid to ensure it is in order and addresses all parts of the request, he said. The contract could be awarded Tuesday.

“We’re under a tight deadline,” Davis said last week. The work needs to be completed, or at least the lower portion near the water needs to be done, by Sept. 30, he said.

Along with the pressures to meet the low-water deadline, there is a potential cost increase if clay soil on the bank collapses once the work begins, he said.

The initial plan calls for excavation, wood pilings inserted in the soil with rock, timber and root wads, Davis said previously.

The town has already invested $76,000 in the project and expects the Federal Emergency Management Agency to contribute $276,000. The town will pay the rest.

A portion of the riverbank, just feet from the Whittier Road, started eroding during tropical storm Irene in August 2011.

The erosion posed a potential collapse of the road, causing town officials to monitor it regularly, post road weight limits and restrict a portion of the road to one-lane traffic.

Town, federal and state agencies agreed in April to pursue a “hybrid” plan that incorporates logs and rocks to stop erosion. The board contracted with the U.S. Forest Service to provide design and construction oversight of the project.

abryant@sunjournal.com

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