Common Council rejects Amsterdam golf clubhouse renovation bids

AMSTERDAM — The Common Council rejected bids for the renovation of the Amsterdam Municipal Golf Course Clubhouse Tuesday.

Mayor Michael Villa said the bids that came in for the project where either too high for the $886,000 insurance payout the city has been approved for from New York Municipal Insurance Reciprocal, or there were flaws in the bids. He said the city is still trying to get a larger insurance award from NYMIR for loss of revenue for the golf course from the clubhouse being closed after being damaged.

“Some of the bids were too high, over $1 million. Two of them were inaccurate; they didn’t return the bid packet, so two of them would have been disqualified anyhow,” Villa said. “[These bids] are so high, we don’t have a guarantee on insurance dollars yet, so the best thing is to finalize this insurance payment and rebid this, and it would have had to be rebid anyway because of the bids, No.1 being high, and two of them being disqualified.”

Bid numbers obtained by the Daily Gazette show that, had they not be rejected for inadequate submissions, the lowest bidders for the four categories would have totaled $829,874.

Three members of the Common Council — Patrick Russo (R-1st Ward), Paul Ochal (R-2nd Ward) and Dave Dybas (D-4th Ward) — attended the special meeting, enough to establish a quorum. All three voted to reject the bids.

The golf course clubhouse was damaged in February when pipes burst, even though the heat to the building was still turned on. Water from the pipes flooded the building. The damaged clubhouse interrupted the city’s plan to establish a bar/restaurant run by newly hired muni golf pro Kevin Canale.

In May the city hired Niskayuna-based WorldClaim Global Claims Management to help the city get a larger insurance claim, accounting for the lost business revenue from the closed clubhouse, and for the city having to use an alternate facility for some events. The city renovated a former golf cart storage shed into a pavillion, which has been made available for city residents to use free of charge until the end of the golf season, which is now projected to run through election day Nov. 5.

WorldClaim will get 10 percent of whatever increase it can negotiate for the city.

Villa said preliminary estimates for a loss of revenue insurance payout are between $130,000 and $150,000.

“We have an estimate, but we need to be guaranteed that we are going to receive those dollars,” he said.

Canale said one reason some of the bids came in too high was the $866,000 payout approved by NYMIR did not include money to bring the building up to the requirements of the current city code, including upgraded insulation and a handicap accessible bathroom.

“The original insurance number that was given did not include that installation work, so some of those bids that came in higher included that work, including the bathroom,” Canale said. “We have an independent adjuster and we’re working with the insurance company hoping to get an answer from the company within a week or two, so we can get final approval and go ahead and award the bid.”

Villa said he’s hopeful the city can get the project rebid soon and not delay the city’s goal of having the renovations completed by spring of 2020.