Town Hall and library slated to be spick and span

Who will do the Town Hall and library cleaning, and how much will it cost? That was the focus of one item on the agenda at the Aug. 14 meeting of the Charlotte Selectboard.

Town Administrator Dean Bloch said that the contract had gone out with a request for bids, and he had also contacted a couple of contractors who had been recommended to him.

Three proposals were submitted for the contract: Williston-based Coastal Building Maintenance (CBM VT), Danaher Custom Services Inc. of South Burlington, and Bobbi Jo Welch of B’s Perfection Cleaning Services.

The prices were “quite spread out” Bloch said during his presentation at Monday’s meeting. The lowest proposal was from CBM VT for $750 per month. The highest was Danaher, which gave a quote of $15,000 per month. Welch’s business came in the middle at $4,680 per month.

Bloch said that CBM VT’s “references checked out very well.” Amongst the company’s clients are UVM Medical Center and the American Red Cross. Bloch quoted one client as saying that the company is flexible and does good work, doing whatever is needed. He added that the company was the one that he recommended the board go with for the contract.

With the $750 per month price tag, the town will get cleaning services for both the Town Hall and library. The company will be using its own equipment and requires no additional materials from the town.

Members voted unanimously to award the contract, which runs from Aug. 15, 2017 until June 30, 2018, to CBM VT. The new contract is actually a decrease in terms of cleaning costs for the two buildings. Previously, the town had paid $550 per month for the Town Hall cleaning and $400 per month for the library.