Craig Daily Press

Diversified Consulting Solutions, project manager for a proposed new The Memorial Hospital, will recommend the hospital board award a construction bid to J2 Development/Twin Peaks Utilities, a Lafayette company and the project’s low bidder.

John Sattler, DCS president/building division manager, told the Colorado Northwestern Community College board of control Tuesday night of his firm’s intended recommendation.

DCS will make the recommendation during tonight’s hospital board meeting, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Hospital board member Missy Bonaker said she believed the board will make a decision on the DCS recommendation at tonight’s meeting.

“I’d be surprised if we didn’t go with their recommendation, but I want to see how they justify it first,” Bonaker said.

The hospital received three bids last week from companies vying to complete phase one infrastructure work at the proposed new hospital site, a 15-acre tract located west of Shadow Mountain Village. The bids ranged from $2.7 million to $3.9 million.

J2 Development/Twin Peaks Utilities, a joint venture, submitted the low bid at about $2.7 million.

Sattler said the bid fell close to his firm’s estimate, which was around $2.6 million, for the construction of sewers, roads, sidewalks, curbs and gutters.

Connell Resources of Fort Collins and Steamboat Springs submitted a bid of about $3.9 million, and Scott Contracting of Henderson submitted a $3.03 million bid.

The new hospital’s 15 acres sits on the same 100-acre parcel where the college is seeking to build a new Craig campus. The college also is attempting to build residence halls on the land.

If the hospital board approves the DCS recommendation, it paves the way for site work to begin early next month, Sattler said. The project’s performance period runs from July 1 to Nov. 1.

“We’re looking to break ground shortly after the Fourth of July holiday,” Sattler said.

College president John Boyd said the college and hospital would coordinate efforts to host a groundbreaking ceremony, celebrating the beginning of a long-envisioned project.

“You get the two boards together and throw some dirt,” Boyd said. “You just want to make sure you don’t throw some in to the wind.”

Sattler said Twin Peaks is a company performing sub-contracting work at the site of a new Wal-Mart SuperCenter in Craig.