By Robert Williams

Editor

The Frazee Economic Development Authority (EDA) awarded the bid of just less than $600,000 from Bristlin Construction of Detroit Lakes for the completion of the interior buildout of the downtown retail building that will house Mama’s Pizzeria N Scoops and Home Sweet Bakehouse later this year. 

Negotiations continue on a fourth tenant that will fill the building. Seip Drug has been the lone tenant since September, 2022. The building was open for occupancy in March of the same year.

The second bid for the work was from Hammers Construction of Perham with a bid that was approximately $100,000 more.

The work scope includes foundations, framing and walls, plumbing and electrical, HVAC systems, flooring and finishes, a commercial kitchen buildout in two stalls, exterior and entryway work.

A tentative completion date of June 20 was submitted by Bristlin, but that is to be determined by the completion of state plumbing permitting, which can take up to six weeks. Bristlin’s estimate contains a hopeful timeframe of four weeks for state plumbing.

The EDA members used a scoring system based on the following evaluation criteria:

• Experience and qualifications (30 percent)

• Project approach and timeline (30 percent)

• Cost proposal (25 percent)

• References and past performance (15 percent)

Bristlin came out on the winning end of the bid scoring. Hammers was hampered by a higher bid of $100,000 and a timeline that stretched to September for completion of the work. The timeline was a unanimous key factor in the decision.

The current structure is framed, but unfinished with a gravel floor and concrete slab around the edge of the interior.

Board member Bill Daggett brought up a discussion on funding the increased cost.

The original budget limit for this project was $375,000. Because the EDA owns the building and not the City of Frazee, the EDA will be eligible for funding through West Central Initiative and eligible to use approximately $100,000 from the Small City Development Fund. 

“Anticipating we have options, my guess is we can do it; we just have to identify which is the best option,” said Economic Development Consultant Karen Pifher.

The $375,000 is leftover from the initial bond that was to fund the buildout, according to City Administrator Stephanie Poegel. No more changes can be made to that bond. A second bond was also discussed and will be explored with City Financial Advisor Jason Murray of David Drown Associates.

Adhering to that amount would have allowed for an extremely limited buildout and likely would not have covered the entire costs of adding anything other than basic office buildings.

The rise in costs are due to increased water usage, two extra bathrooms and commercial kitchens.

“It has to be completed at some time,” said EDA Vice President Ashley Renollet.

“And it’s not going to get any cheaper,” said City Council Liaison Andrea Froeber.

Daggett abstained from the final vote, while voting approvals came from President Heath Peterson, Renollet, Froeber, John Olson and Drew Daggett.

Bill Daggett brought up the need to tighten up the Request for Proposals (RFPs) process and because he would like more information abstained from the vote.

“We really need to work on that process,” he said. “We took off a whole bunch to chew in a short period of time and I know we have to go forward and have to move forward. I’m not trying to derail, but we really need to work on this process.”

Pifher did consult multiple times with former Frazee City Administrator Kelsey Klemm, who currently holds that position on Detroit Lakes, where he has been since 2016. Pifher noted what has been learned in this process will definitely be going into future RFPs.

According to Poegel, in a typical situation, this work would be done by the city engineering firm. The original engineering firm was Goldmark. The EDA began reviewing its contract with Goldmark in January of 2022 and changed over to Ulteig later in the year.