Sea Isle City Commnity Lodge

SEA ISLE CITY –City Council rejected all bids for the construction of an addition to the Community Lodge to create a new Welcome/Information Center.

At a Tue. Oct. 25 council meeting, Council President John Divney said bids were 10 to 15 percent over the estimated budget for the building.

Councilman Michael McHale said bids were rejected because they came in over $1 million. He said council would authorize accepting another round of bids.

“The purchasing agent and the architect will look at it and come up with new design standards,” he said.

McHale asked if council would discuss the matter before the public before new design standards are put out to bid. He said it was likely the building would need to be reduced in size.
He suggested council work with the Sea Isle School which could close in the future due to low enrollment and a budget deficit and look at other alternatives.

Divney said Sea Isle City’s administration would present to council “what the rebidding is going to be based on.” He said he was not in favor of “reawakening the whole process.”

Business Administrator George Savastino said the objective was to have the building open by summer. He said the intent was not to make the Welcome/Information Center smaller or to “change the functionality.”
Savastino said each item in the bid package would be examined to bring the project within budget. He said the plan was to rebid the project in the next two to three weeks.
It would not come before council again in a public session, said Savastino.

“We plan on going out to bid before the next council meeting if all goes well and bringing back a resolution to award a contract at the December 13 meeting if there are responsible bids within the project budget,” he said.

Divney asked Savastino to explain the difference between the current bid and any future bids at council’s November 15 meeting. He said that would offer a chance for public discussion.

McHale said while the location of the proposed Welcome/Information Center was good, taking into account the amount of money to be spent on the building, it may be wiser to work with the school and the former library building to house city activities.

“That’s a lot of money, it’s $1 million,” he said. “What can we do to reduce that?”

McHale said following a joint meeting with the Sea Isle Board of Education, it seemed likely the city would eventually own the school. The school has low enrollment and a large budget deficit.
He said the school would be a good recreation or community center.

“You keep billing this as a welcome center when it is primarily an office building and I wish you would call it that instead of trying to pull the wool over everybody’s eyes… said resident Johnny Fein. “Only a small part of it is a welcome center.”

Savastino said it had been proposed to take a small portion of the Community Lodge for use as a Welcome Center.

“That plan got creamed,” he said.
“That was two years ago and things have changed,” said McHale.

He said when the new public library opens in a few weeks, some activities that are held at the lodge could move to the library.
McHale said the city also has a “half empty school,” where some activities could be relocated.

Savastino said the library was a county facility and Sea Isle City had to ask permission to schedule activities in the building.
McHale said the building belonged to the city and was leased by the county.He said he had concerns for the parking situation with a Welcome/Information Center next to the lodge were a number of recreational activities were held.

Resident Irene Jamison said she believed the Community Lodge was the “perfect” location for a Welcome/Information Center but she objected to putting an addition on the building.

“Now that’s it gone from $500,000 to $1 million, you ought to just forget about it,” she said. “In another year, we may be able to have the school as a part of our community.”

If the school close, activities held in the lodge could move to the school, she said. If the school remains open, use half the building for community activities, said Jamison.
She told council they should use the $1 million earmarked for an addition to the lodge to fix up the school such as air conditioning the building and renovating the gym.

Divney said the lodge addition to create a welcome center was never projected to cost $500,000. He said $900,000 was the number the city has had in its plans.
Of that, $350,000 will improve restrooms and other facilities in the existing lodge, said Divney.

The plan for the new center includes space for four new offices as well a conference room and storage space, in addition to an area to be used for a the city’s beach tag office as well as the welcome center.