The T-ball and peewee fields at City Pond Park will have a new addition.

The Newton County Board of Commissioners (BOC) voted unanimously to approve a bid from Atlanta Fire and Restoration for the construction of a new concession building in the park.

The cost of the project, including design, materials and labor will be $226,667. Money for the project will come out of the 2011 SPLOST funds.

Atlanta Fire and Restoration’s bid was the lowest of six complete and qualified bids. An estimate by Paul’s Design and Construction came in at a total of $159,850, but was not a complete bid package, therefore was ineligible.

However, the bid was discussed during Tuesday night’s meeting because District 5 Commissioner Levie Maddox and Newton County Recreation Board Director Anthony Avery felt the other five bids were higher than expected.

“The design we just approved is $200 a square foot,” Maddox said. “From my experience looking at normal construction costs are usually right at $150 to $160 a square-foot. The bid is respectable; I just think it’s extremely high.

“However, to balance that,” he said, “this build out has been needed for 10 to 15 years.”

The motion to approve the bid for $226,667 was made by District 4 Commissioner J.C. Henderson and approved unanimously.

A 15 percent savings

The BOC unanimously voted Tuesday to issue separate purchase orders to pay for the services of subcontractors used by Harbin Engineering at the landfill.

Interim County Manager Lloyd Kerr told the board that Harbin charges 15 percent of the total bill to process paperwork from their subcontractors. As a result of the board’s vote, the county will make payments directly to the four subcontractors.

“This could be significant savings,” he said.