Library expansion to be re-bid

“The bids were in a range from $1,488,000 to $1,720,000,” Bryant explained later, adding that the budget for the building was “somewhere around $1.3 million to $1.35 million.”

The bid did not include allowances for furnishings that are expected to take the total cost to about $2.1 million.

“We’re sort of a third party in this process,” Bryant observed. “The state and the regional library board are the ones building the building.”

Bryant said those officials plan to meet with the architect in the near future and with the bidders.

“We’re trying to find out from the contractors’ perspective what they saw in there that made it go beyond the projections,” he explained.

Bryant estimated that the snag will delay the project by about two months.