M.W. Hail gets contract for golf course repairs

The Lampasas City Council voted 5-1 Monday to award a $406,111 bid for Hancock Park Golf Course bridge repairs to M.W. Hail Construction Inc.

The Lampasas company -- one of two bidders for the replacement of the pro shop and No. 6 bridges -- submitted a $430,566 base bid, which included a metal bridge on the sixth hole, and a $406,111 alternate bid.

The council accepted the alternate bid that provides for a pre-fabricated wooden bridge on hole No. 6.

Mayor Judy Hetherly, Mayor Pro Tem John Cole and council members Wanda Bierschwale, Robert McCauley and Les Gerhardt voted to award the bid. Councilman Jerry Grayson opposed, and council member Debbie Fuller was absent.

"We were very pleased he put in a bid," City Manager Mike Stoldt said of the local construction company owner Mike Hail. "We have worked with him before, and he does a good job."

The bid has a 90-day construction timeline, although the city manager said city staff hope to have the pro shop bridge replaced within 60 days.

To avoid extensive hydraulic studies and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers analyses, construction crews will replace the bridge with essentially the same exterior material it had before flooding this summer.

"As long as we were going back with what already was there, it was a lot simpler," Stoldt said.

The reconstructed crossing will include cement box culverts instead of tin horns, though, and it will feature cement-stabilized fill.

Depending on the manufacturer's schedule, replacing the No. 6 bridge might take longer than rebuilding the creek crossing by the pro shop, Stoldt said.

"The question is how long does it take them to build it and send it to us," he said. "Even though it's the simpler one, it may take longer to install that bridge."

Because the bid exceeds the $270,000 budgeted for golf course repairs, the City Council approved the first reading of a budget amendment Monday and awarded the bid subject to approval of the amendment at its second reading.