Despite difficulties in finding interested contractors, Kenyon’s City Council was able to get a trio of bids and selected the cheapest, paving the way to move forward with a roof replacement and other overdue maintenance at the Kenyon Municipal Liquor Building.
The council accepted a bid of $40,640 from Red Wing-based Chandler Roofing & Construction, which will cover the cost of removing the current PVC membrane roof and insulation and replacing it with a new RhinoBond System, a PVC roof manufactured by Sika Roofing.
Chandler’s bid easily beat out bids of $56,600 from Winona Heating & Ventilating and $66,320 from Schwickert’s Tecta America. Pending contractor availability, work will be expected to take place during the month of April and could take a couple of weeks to wrap up.
The new roof is just one part of a comprehensive building upgrade which will also include new flooring and painting. The Council already approved a bid in January for flooring work, but opted at that time to wait on bidding out the roof project until more bids were received.
A contract for flooring work was awarded to St. Paul’s Hamernick’s Flooring, whose bid of $22,225.86 narrowly beat out a $25,364.60 bid from Hiler’s Flooring America of Rochester. Under the contract, current tiles will be removed and replaced with new vinyl planks which will not require regular waxing.
The interior will also get a fresh coat of paint as part of the project, though no formal bid was approved by Council for the work. City Administrator Mark Vahlsing said that the interior would be repainted by hometown painter Darvy Amudson of New Horizons Painting.
Interior painting in both the on-sale and off-sale areas of the Muni is expected to cost about $6,800, bringing the overall project cost to right around $70,000. Vahlsing said that this expense would be financed through an inter-fund loan with Kenyon Municipal Utilities.
While the project moved ahead with little controversy, Councilor Mary Bailey pushed staff to make sure that the new color scheme inside the Muni would be truly inviting for those who may want to enjoy a drink in a low-key atmosphere.
Bailey said that Kenyon should avoid going down the path of West Concord’s Municipal Liquor Store, which is painted in white and light grays that she sees are much too bright to provide the proper ambiance for liquor consumption in a relaxed setting.
Vahlsing said that Muni Manager Matt “Milty” Bartel and his colleagues have been looking at paint colors similar to the gray flooring tiles, but perhaps a bit lighter. However, Bailey warned that grays too light or even white painting could scare off potential customers.
“People say, “I want this to be light and airy” — no you don’t. People don’t go to the bar to be seen in white, they don’t want to do that,” Bailey said. “Just go into the West Concord Muni and sit in there for five minutes and you’ll want to leave.”
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