McHenry council waives bids for sheriff’s marine unit building at Miller Riverfront Park

By waiving competitive bids for a McHenry County Sheriff’s Office Marine unit building set for city property, the city of McHenry and the sheriff’s office will save about $400,000 while updating a public boat launch, city officials said.

The McHenry City Council voted 6-1 Monday to waive the bidding process after the first two rounds of bids came in higher than expected. The council also awarded construction to S.H. Freund and Son, said Bill Hobson, parks and recreation director.

Fourth Ward Alderwoman Chris Bassi cast the dissenting vote.

“This became cost-prohibitive,” Hobson said of plans to build a storage and office facility at Miller Riverfront Park for the unit that patrols the Fox River and Chain O’ Lakes in McHenry County. The two entities signed an intergovernmental agreement for the project in May 2020.

The sheriff’s office had Wold Architects and Engineers design a building with two public bathrooms, as well as a bathroom for officers, garage and office space.

The location, Miller Riverfront Park, is on the south end of McHenry, north of the Stratton Lock and Dam off Charles J. Miller Road. It is separate from Miller Point Park in downtown McHenry.

We needed to retake a look at everything, focusing more on function than form.”

—  Bill Hobson, McHenry parks and recreation director

Original engineering estimates for the building came in at about $500,000, Hobson said.

McHenry put the design out to bid in September and October. The low bid in September came in at $927,000. The plans were redesigned and put out to bid again in October, with that low bid coming in at $851,000.

Hobson then went looking for ideas and pricing based on his own concept, using what the city did last summer with the bathrooms at Miller Point Park as the template.

“We started with the footprint of the building as the usable space [to build on],” Hobson said. “We needed to retake a look at everything, focusing more on function than form.”

By using a partially prefabricated structure and working with S.H. Freund, the new agreed-upon cost is $461,516.75.

Hobson reached out to Steve Freund, as the contractor has worked with the city before, including to build the bathrooms at Miller Point Park last summer.

Freund drew up new plans for the Marine unit building, Hobson said.

All costs above $50,000 will be paid by the sheriff’s office, Hobson said. The city will own and maintain the structure and fund initial costs from the Parks Developer Donations Fund.

The sheriff’s office then will repay those expenditures, Hobson said.

“Technically it is our building on our property, and they are paying for it,” he said.

Once finished, McHenry’s boat launch will have a paved road and parking lot, as well as updated lighting and a single, unisex bathroom for public use, Hobson said.

Three of the slips there are dedicated to the sheriff’s Marine unit.

“You can never have enough law enforcement,” 3rd Ward Alderman Frank McClatchey said.

The parking lot redesign and paving is funded by a $150,000 Illinois Department of Natural Resources grant, Hobson said. That work will be done closer to the end of the boating season as part of the city’s overall paving program.

The park, completed in early 2018, has parking for 30 vehicles and trailers, the same number planned for after the repaving. It also has a gazebo and video camera surveillance and is one of a handful of public access launches onto the Fox River and Chain O’ Lakes.

Daily launches are available to buy on-site, or boaters can buy a yearly pass.

The launch “is huge for boaters and a big amenity for us,” Hobson said.