The Project Wide Advisory Committee is contracting with a new company to treat ponds south of County Road 466 in The Villages.
Earlier this year, PWAC members balked at the $247,783 increase sought in the existing contract with Solitude Lake Management LLC. The increase would have raised the price of the work to $825,948. It would have represented a 40 percent increase in the price of treating ponds south of County Road 466.
PWAC members on Monday reviewed proposals from three companies and opted to contract with Crosscreek Environmental Inc. which bid a unit price at $40 per acre. Solitude came back with a proposal of $65 per acre and DeAngelo Contracting Services offered a price of $125.05 per acre.
The total amount to be paid to Crosscreek would be $661,205, representing a significant savings had PWAC opted to stick it out with Solitude under the old contract.
Crosscreek Environmental is a large company with offices in Orlando, Tampa and Fort Myers.
Don Deakin, a member of the Amenity Authority Committee, expressed disappointment that the AAC agreed to stay with Solitude for treatment of ponds north of Count Road 466, because that committee hadn’t been provided with the options presented to PWAC.
“I am a little concerned we didn’t find this company and get a better response initially,” Deakin said at the PWAC meeting at SeaBreeze Recreation Center.
PWAC unanimously agreed to the Crosscreek contract.
