By james art 
The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a Highland Park Golf Course repair offer, although at least one council member said it was “horrified” by its $ 1.8 million costs.
“We are happy that this will be fine; I think everyone is delighted. It’s just the price of it, it looked so incredibly high for such a relatively small building, “said adviser Valerie Abbet.
Officials say the Pro Shop HVC system is not working for nine months.
The winner of the offer, based on Tuscaloosa Mcabee Construction Inc., was the only company to submit a job offer. The company put the price of the project at $ 1817,000.
Abbot asked the city’s employees how the council could know that this was a suitable offer, with only one company offering a proposal.
Chaz Mitchell, head of operations for the city, told Abbott that the city was making its diligence to adequately adequate its requests for offers for appropriate suppliers. He added that capital project employees make sure that the company meets a list of requirements required for the work.
He said the HVAC repairs needed at Pro Shop are so complicated that few companies are able to complete the project, which may have led to the fact that the city has only one participant in the auction.
“I think this is the only route we need to achieve this project and go,” Mitchell said.
Advisor Carol Clark also said that standard bidding processes usually maintain offers competitive, as companies do not know how many other companies submit proposals for the job.
The Council recognizes four schools for major reading improvements
Also Tuesday, council members honored four schools in Birmingham-Elever Elementary, Richard Arrington, Jr. Elementary, Inlgenook Pre K-8 and I3 Academy-for making the best list of Alabama.
In 2022-23, only 33% of the third-graders of Birmingham city schools read at the level level. Following a purposeful, year -round campaign by city leaders, school staff and volunteers from all over Birmingham, 86% of these students read at the level until the state reading test is applied.
City leaders attribute much of this improvement to the Page Pals program, a partnership between the city and the school neighborhood where volunteers read the students aloud.