Questions over bidding process bring major contract to a standstill.
Cedar Rapids City Council last night set aside a decision to accept a local contractor’s $10 million bid to bring down most of the flood-and-fire damaged old Sinclair meatpacking plant.
The decision to postpone the award of a demolition contract came over questions related to the city’s bidding process as attorneys for two of the 11 competing firms addressed the council last night, one of whom already has filed a lawsuit against the city.
The council, though, did take on the related matter of the 100-year-old Sinclair smokestack, giving a strong endorsement to Maura Pilcher, chairwoman of the city’s Historic Preservation Commission, to see if she and others can quickly find funds to study, stabilize and, ultimately, restore the smokestack.
However, council member Pat Shey noted that the clock is ticking on the smokestack, which city, state and federal officials have said is in danger of collapse and is a threat to demolition crews working nearby. Shey said the city needed to see some action from Pilcher before demolition crews at the Sinclair plant got to the spot near the smokestack in the next couple of months.
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