As the 2 p.m. deadline came and went last Thursday, Sept. 18, Hildreth House Improvement Committee member David Vannicola and Finance Director Lorraine Leonard waited in vain for the arrival of bids for window replacement at Hildreth House. Three potential bidders attended the mandatory pre-bid on-site inspection on Sept. 3, took extensive measurements, and asked questions. But in the end, they all decided against doing the job.
Leonard contacted all three contractors to ask why. One said the budget ($66,600) was too low, the completion deadline (Dec. 15) was too tight, and the job was overly complicated (too many odd-sized windows). That assessment was echoed by former HHIC member and builder Richard Blinn, who considered bidding but then decided he has too much work right now to take on a job with a December deadline. “Contractors are working like mad to get things done before the weather turns,” Blinn said. “They don’t want a complicated job.”
With that in mind, HHIC members reluctantly agreed at their meeting on Monday that the window replacement would have to wait until spring at the earliest. Funding for the new windows was provided by the Community Preservation Committee and approved at Annual Town Meeting in April. The CPC deadline for spending the money is June 30, 2016.
