Farmington, CT – Cleaning up the asbestos material in the old Farmington library (main branch) will cost the Davis County approximately $24000 over the lowest received bid. The apparent lowest bidder for this project left out certain vital information in the bid they submitted, leaving the county with no option other than accepting the second-lowest bid. A notice of award was issued to Smithfield-based Abatex Environmental Services by the county commission on Tuesday. The company had submitted a $63897 bid to the county for the required work. The county had received a total of 5 bids and this was the second-lowest bid. The lowest bidder was not responsive having excluded from the bid vital info regarding the project, says Barry Burton, the planning director of Davis County. Burton is now serving as the project manager of the county. “Still this particular one is under the county’s budget, and so we are in good shape,” said Burton. He was explaining the commission about accepting the 2nd-lowest bid. Davis County Auditor/Clerk Steve Rawlings says $100000 has been budgeted by the county for the project. The asbestos material in the library has to be cleaned up prior to the demolition of the building and the construction of a parking lot. The library was constructed in 1964, when asbestos was an extensively-used construction material. It is situated Memorial County Courthouse’ east at 28 East State Street in Farmington, CT. According to the county officials, the bids received by the county for the project ranged from $104000 to $39878 – the lowest bid. Burton says the asbestos abatement should be done next month. He says the building will be torn down in March. The county officials want to eliminate the old library building from the county campus. On its place, they want to construct a new parking lot by May last or June, according to the officials. It is not unusual for buildings constructed before the 1980s to have asbestos in them. The reason is that the hazards of the substance were not fully known then. Its low cost and excellent features such as durability, strength, insulating properties etc. made asbestos a very popular substance among the construction and other industries. Now everyone knows that asbestos can cause cancer and it is a highly regulated substance now. Asbestos removal is an expensive process and it requires the service of a licensed contractor.
