Times Observer photo by Josh Cotton Warren City Council on Monday signed off on bids for an improvement project at Crescent Park. Work will include a new trail surface and lighting, new restroom facilities and parking as well as other infrastructure improvements.

The third time – this time – was indeed the charm for a proposed rehabilitation of Crescent Park.

Warren City Council signed off on bids for the project that will improve the trail surface and install lights, bring new restroom facilities and parking as well as other infrastructure work to the riverfront on Warren’s south side.

Department of Public Works Director Mike Holtz told council that the project was first bid in 2019 and came in well over budget.

It went back to bid in February and came back within budget but only one bidder turned up for the plumbing and electrical contracts. Holtz said the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources required that those contracts be re-bid as a result.

He told council that the third round of bids came back such that all of the project alternatives fell within budget.

The general contract — $206,600 — went to H&K Services out of Leon, NY while the plumbing contract went to Fred L. Burns, Inc. of Shippenville while the electric — $137,775 — was awarded to A&MP Electrical from Guys Mills.

The total awarded on Monday was $377,557.

Holtz said the project would be done by the end of the construction season. The state grant dollars tied up in the project are required to be spent by the end of the year.

The city’s Department of Public Works is taking on some of the work — for example, rehabilitation of the trail, laying of the electrical conduit.

“It’s a pretty good chunk of change,” Holtz said. “We’ll be doing that in house.”

The project was on the ropes during 2021 budget deliberations when council struck the project from the budget.

However, some council members were unable to hear and didn’t vote as intended in the Zoom-only meeting, requiring a special meeting to reallocate funds to the project.