City Commissioners are hoping to bring down the cost of a proposed new facility in downtown Cedartown.

The Lankford Corner at the Silver Comet project proposed in 2022 and given approval to move ahead is still in the bid phase as the city seeks to bring down a multimillion dollar bid in an effort to save taxpayer money and have SPLOST funds leftover for additional efforts.

First proposed in the 2010s, The Lankford Corner project at the time was put on the shelf due to an overbudget bid that despite trimming the city couldn’t afford at the time. Several years later, City Manager Edward Guzman said administration is at work on the same process during the City Commission’s latest work session on February 5.

The cost of the project hasn’t been finalized, but the low bidder was still above what the city was hoping to pay for the construction effort to bring a multi-use facility to downtown Cedartown with a contemporary styling. Duffey Southeast thus far came in with the lowest cost for construction, and state law on these kinds of projects allow for cities to negotiate during a window before approval to bring down costs through value engineering.

“We’ve been making some progress with Duffey,” Guzman said. “… We have a certain time frame on which we have to decide on whether to do the project or not, and we’re coming up on that deadline.”

Guzman is looking at several areas where the city might save funding: saving $18,000 on the overall cost by changing roofing materials brands with the same look and 20-year guarantee, or looking at changes in the plan where City Public Works might handle landscaping. Even saving on the cost of planting new trees might be available thanks to grants already in place the city received to plant new saplings around the area.

This process has been underway with Duffey Southeast over the past month and a half and the negotiations have thus far found $400,000 in savings on the project. Guzman hopes to find more.

“There are some areas that were easy to value engineer, things that would not make some noticeable difference to the building,” he said. “Nitpicking it piece by piece (matters,) because $18,000 is not going to make a difference, but maybe if we can find 20, 25 of these line items, then it will start making a difference. So we’re trying to get there, but we do have a ways to go.”

Duffey Southeast was also going to provide additional options for the city to consider for cost-cutting measures that wouldn’t impact the overall design or function of Lankford Corners.

“Staff is looking through some of those line items to see what we can digest, and what we may not really want,” he added. “It might make too much of an impact on the look of the building, but we don’t want to make too many changes.”

He noted to the City Commission during the work session as well that there are areas where negotiation isn’t possible due to the potential to go against design standards for downtown Cedartown’s Main Street corridor.

Commissioner Sam Branch did ask whether other contractors had shown interest on the project that ultimately only got two bidders, and Guzman noted that “five or six” general contractors had participated in voluntary pre-bid meetings before the decision was made to go with Duffey Southeast.

Branch then said those who questioned this process previously should take note for the record that “The Good Ol’ Boy System” wasn’t at work in the bidding process in the city, but that they went through the correct steps for the opportunity to get the project bid.

“When there’s confusion as to why we give out certain bids to certain companies and why ‘we play the “Good Ol’ Boy System,”‘ it’s because the “Good Ol’ Boys” at Duffey Southeast followed the process and actually put forth a bid and submitted that bid for review, and have all the proper licenses and equipment necessary and everything they need to receive the funding for this project?” Branch asked pointedly.

Guzman had no problem in answering “that is correct” and also noted the 30-day period the request for bids are advertised on statewide sites and in the legal organ for Polk County.

“I just want to make sure that we don’t make anybody mad because we “Good Ol’ Boy’d It” and that we didn’t give it to Jimmy John down the street because he didn’t put in a bid,” Branch added.

If the price tag is lowered further and an agreement can be reached before March, Guzman said the need for a special called session later this month could be in the works.