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A delay of that length. Mckittrirk said. would mean the contractor was required to complete the first "This is required to protect the integrity of the public tendering process," the report went on to ex plain "The intent of the letter." he explained, "was not a qualification of the tender .._ (we) only wanted to point out that if the city waited 60 days to award the contract. it became an impossible contract to complete." Because of disqualification of a lower bid from a local construction firm, city staff has recommended that council award the contract to a ‘Brantford company which offered to do the work for $532,g0t.50 - almost 358.000 more than the city has planned to pay. According to Bob McKittrick, a representative of Simon-Wood. the tender document was "slightly strange for the city of Waterloo to use. particularly with respect to award timing. However, council was told. the letter was never intended to qualify the offer but was only included to correct an oversight in the tender specifications which allowed the city up 1060 days to award the con tract According to a written report from Terry Hallman, city purchas- ing and planning director, a bid of $469,507.50 trom Simon-Wood Ltd. was rejected because the firm had qualified its offer by including a letter arguing that if the contract is not awarded within two weeks the completion date cannot be met with the tender. City of Waterloo procedure. adopted in 1978. is that qualified tenders are always rejected as "invalid", Mailman said in the re A simple misunderstanding could end up costing the city of Waterloo 560.000. council was told Monday night. The difficulty stems from a tender called for road and underground services construction on Grant Crescent. Rustic Drive and Wissler Road. TENDERING RULES It recommended that the school be allowed to remain open for the 1982/83 school year; that the present review committee continue to operate until November 1982, and that a list of alternatives be submit- ted to the board at that time. At the board's committee of the whole meeting. the Alexandra Ac- commodation Review Committee presented three recommendations for trustees' approval. The school’s effective capacity is 253. The predicted enrolment for September 1985 is estimated to be 181. A victim of declining enrolment, the school. located one block from Waterloo Square on Alexandra Street, has an enrolment of 109 from the Alexandra catchment area. This figure is augmented by 44 special education students and 14 students from the Westvale subdivision, bringing the total enrolment to 167. who attended the Waterloo county board of education meeting last Wednesday evening showed visible Signs of relief when the board voted in favor of keeping the Tryear-old school open for another year. 1031tSTEiEs DECIDE By Teny James Parents of students attending Alexandra public school in Waterloo Ind concerned downtown residents 'Oversight' might be costly to city Alexandra. gets 1-year reprieve By Mode. Martinuk However. Mayor Marjorie Carroll argued that the tendering process adopted by the city of Waterloo "has to be honored and protected .. Conn cll. she said, could only reject the recommendation to award the con tract to the Brantford firm in favor of another if convinced that there has been somc irregularity in the process He argued that Simon-Woods be awarded the contract "in the inter was of the difference in dollars between the tenders '* Ald Mary Jane Mewhlnney said that no matter what the city decides "there is going to be some penalize tion involved. If not to these con tractors. then to the taxpayers or the developer who is expecting the services " Aid. John Shortreed, who asked for the deferral. said that the letter was "quite ambiguous" and could be read as a qualification or simply as information that a problem exist, ed. The city of Waterloo should not be forced to pay an extra 360.000 to have the work done, because of a "bidding screw up" argued Md Richard Riggs. Aldermen decided to defer malt ing a final decision on the contract for one week, pending a report from the city solicitor on whether the letter constitutes a qualification. The wday period was included in the specifications by an independent engineering consultant firm, and he said, "although a “Hilly clause is common in a lot of municipalities. Waterloo does not follow that," According to city engineer Jim Willis. Waterloo usually awards contracts "very promptly after opening tenders." usually within ten days. He said it was "an oversight" that the engineering department did not pick up the error, "Simon-Wood," he stressed, “would have taken the contract if it had been awarded in 59 days," phase of the project, estimated to take three weeks. in only three days. The actual tender. McKittrick said, was not modified "in any way, shape or form." Waterloo trustee Lynne Woolsten- croft questioned board chairman Dr. Harold Albrecht as to how creative the committee could be in coming up with a list of alterna- tives. Before discussion had a chance to get underway, the board approved a motion made by Waterloo trustee Robert Kleindschmidt to table the latter recommendation until the accommodation review committee has a chance to deliver its report in November. Members of a board/staff com- mittee recommended closing Alex- andra and accommodating the kin- dergarten to grade six students and special education students in neigh- boring schools. The study follows on the heels of one concluded in February 1981 and concentrates on schools in the cen- tral area of the city. At the same time the board dealt with recommendations brought tor- ward as a result of a Waterloo elementary school accommodation study. An accommodation review com mittee has been in existence since 1977 in accordance with the board's Guideline on Accommodation Re- view. . IConnnued on page 5) As well. Rowell conceded. there is tho matter of cost “In order to keep tNttit of the project down, the book can't be as extensive as one would like .. Margaret McKegney works on the preliminary sketch for e watercolor painting of the old Waterloo town ttatt. The painting um appear on the front cover of a book to be publiehed in May about the history of the city at Wanqhoo. "it hits all the high points," added Rowell "We try to cover pretty well everything, but not in great detail”. (we want) to give people a good idea of how Waterloo got started " The authors worked to keep the size of the volume down, she said, .because "if you get very wordy people will tend not lo read it it wouldn't be of general interest to the public .. "125 years is a lot of history to cover," said Howell. and. although the book will be short. only 120 pages, it will be comprehensive Due to be published in time fur the May 27th Founders Day celebrations, this short history It will cover the growth of the city's industries and major businesses. establish ment of its schools, development of Waterloo's two universities. municipal politics through the years, and the people who have made the city what it is today, The history will go right back to the beginnings of the city, to 1805 when Abraham Erb arrived in the area and purchased the two lots which would Nome day be the site of uptown Waterloo, This is according to Margaret Rowell. who together with Edward Dewitt and Patricia McKegney. is compiling a history of Waterloo to celebrate the city's 125th anniversary. Local writers publish Waterloo history book Story and photo by Modes Martinuk Founded by individuals who were not afraid of Waterloo has been to tuke chances. Waterloo is a city which has city at a cost of near grown through the initiative. dedication and However, it is exp, hard work of its people, the city's investm Book will be only 120 pages, but comprehensive FIATER LOO CHRONICLE, WE DNESDAY With still more than two months to go before publication. work on the volume has been progressing well -- two of the three sections are now at the typist's and all three should be at the printer by the end of March "At no time has it been an onerous' task because the people have been so helpful. We've had marvellous co-operation," she said. "There has been a lot of research done," Rowe" explained. "and name-mus histories completed FTh we've brought them all to nether." Cémpilinx the? FREE has meant Iiireji deal of extra work for the three authors. but Rowen said the Work has been rewarding " was Rowell's idea to put together a history of Waterloo. because until now there has never been a history of the city in one volume. As well, the text will be carefully lootnoled to enable those with greater interest in the history of Waterloo to read on. For ease of organization and for greater readability, the book has been divided into three sections: the village period. from the earliest settlement to 1876, written by Bowel); the town period, from 1876 to 1947, written by Devitt; and the city period. written by McKee ney. It will be illustrated with numerous maps. drawings and early photographs, and will include early documents and surveys. said Howell Sale of the book. Which will cost $6, will be. co-ordinated by city staff. However, it is expected that virtually all of the city's investment will be recovered through sales during the year. of Waterloo has been completely funded by the city at a cost of nearly $20,000. Work has been rewarding... MARCH " 132 - MG; 3