At a glance
The Public Works Board met Monday for its August meeting and picked a contractor for this year's sidewalk improvement district (SID) work. After reviewing five bids, the board voted to hire Frank Vosburgh and Sons for $349,085, then voted again to drop two segments from the contract and pay the city back $50,000 on its construction loan. The board is also looking for a new member: Dave Marston, appointed by the Common Council President, is stepping down. Construction is hoped to start in October, weather permitting.
Roll call and a board seat opening up
Gary Purnhagen opened the board's monthly meeting and flagged that member Dave Marston is leaving, with no replacement lined up yet.
Key points
- Board chair Gary Purnhagen called the meeting to order with no formal agenda circulated in advance
- Dave Marston, appointed by the Common Council President, is stepping down from the board
- Board member George Kroenert is a mayoral appointee; Purnhagen said Common Council President Margaret Morris is looking for Marston's replacement
- Purnhagen said he has asked a couple of people but had no responses yet, and asked anyone listening to pass along names
The auto-captions garbled several names. The contractor's name was rendered inconsistently ("Rosberg," "Vosberg") and is spelled here as Frank Vosburgh and Sons, matching the same contractor's name in the city's November 2024 Public Works Board minutes. "Tyler President" is board member and Commissioner of Public Works Tyler Kritzman, and "George" is board member George Kroenert, both confirmed against the city's official Public Works Board roster (hudsonny.gov).
Five bids for the 2026 sidewalk work
The city received five bids for this year's SID sidewalk construction, covering 11 core locations plus two alternates. Project manager Ryan Locker walked the board through them.
Key points
- The city solicited bids for 11 core sidewalk locations and two alternate locations for the 2026 SID construction season
- Five contractors responded: Trinity Construction, Frank Vosburgh and Sons, Stonebridge, Raja Contractors, and one described as the highest bidder and based farther away
- Ryan Locker (Crawford and Associates, the SID's project manager) said Frank Vosburgh and Sons had no errors or omissions in its bid package and has done city work before, including sidewalk work near the police department on Union Street
- Tyler Kritzman, the city's Commissioner of Public Works, said the same contractor did decent work for the city last year, with responsive communication and follow-up on any issues
- The highest bid came in around $840,000 to $850,000 for the base contract, over $1 million with alternates included; the board attributed the gap partly to the contractor's mobilization costs and distance from Hudson
- Frank Vosburgh and Sons' base bid was in the $300,000s, with Stonebridge's base bid described as slightly higher, around $550,000
Several dollar figures in this discussion were unclear or contradictory in the auto-captions. Only figures confirmed later in the meeting ($349,085 for the winning bid, $75,100 for the two dropped items, $273,985 remaining) are reported as exact; the rest are described in general ranges.
Board votes to hire Frank Vosburgh and Sons
After discussing the low bid, the board voted to select Frank Vosburgh and Sons as the 2026 SID contractor for $349,085.
Key points
- A board member asked why the low bid seemed so far below the others, and whether the contractor's work was reliable
- Ryan Locker said the low bid reflected the contractor working several sites in the same area at once, letting it use fewer crews than spreading work across scattered locations
- Locker confirmed asphalt work is included in the scope, with each bid item tied to a specific drawing page detailing the work
- A motion to hire Frank Vosburgh and Sons was made and seconded, and the board voted in favor with no dissent recorded in the transcript
- The winning bid total was $349,085
Purnhagen said he hoped to bring the contractor resolution to the Common Council the next night, though he called that timeline not a guarantee.
Dropping two segments, resuming loan repayment
The board voted to drop two sidewalk segments from this year's contract and to pay the city $50,000 toward the SID's construction loan.
Key points
- Purnhagen said the $349,085 winning bid pushed against available funding
- He, Tyler Kritzman, and Ryan Locker had met the prior week and recommended dropping two locations: Sixth Street between Rope Alley and State Street on the west side (citing unresolved technical issues), and Third Street between Union and Partition on the west side
- Dropping both segments saves $75,100, bringing the contract to $273,985
- That leaves room in the budget for a planned $50,000 payment toward the city's original loan to the SID
- A board member said the original loan from the city was $500,000; after this year's $50,000 installment, $450,000 would remain outstanding
- The board voted to drop the two segments and commit to the $50,000 repayment, with no dissent recorded
Purnhagen said the two dropped segments would be kept on the side in case funds become available later, rather than dropped from the record entirely.
Resolution heading to the Common Council
Purnhagen presented a draft resolution reflecting the contractor selection and budget changes, and the board reviewed it for the Common Council.
Key points
- Purnhagen said he and an assistant drafted a resolution covering the bid selection and budget decisions, and asked the board's approval to make small changes before sending it on
- The board flagged the contractor's name for a possible spelling correction in the resolution text
- Purnhagen said he consulted the city attorney's office on how to word one section of the resolution explaining the dropped items
- The board agreed the resolution would be posted for public information once finalized
Contract amendment and next meeting
Ryan Locker mentioned an outstanding Crawford and Associates contract amendment, and the board confirmed its next meeting date.
Key points
- Ryan Locker said a contract amendment was ready to send to the board but he still needed to update its date
- The board's next monthly meeting is set for September 28 at 5:30
Ryan Locker still needs to send the board an updated Crawford and Associates contract amendment.
Award process and construction timeline
Board members asked about the contract award process and when work could realistically begin, given the season.
Key points
- A board member confirmed the city's original SID loan was $500,000, provided as seed money for early corner and accessibility work
- Ryan Locker described the general award process once the Council approves: the city's attorney reviews it, the mayor signs it, and the city issues a notice of award the contractor must sign and notarize, typically taking a few weeks
- Board members and Locker discussed hoping to break ground by mid-September or October, but said poor weather could push work into November or, if concrete can't be poured in cold temperatures, to spring
- Locker noted this year's work is concentrated in one area rather than scattered across the city, which should help the contractor move faster
- The meeting adjourned on a motion that was seconded and approved
About this page
FUTURE HUDSON is an experiment in civic engagement: every public meeting of the City of Hudson since January 2026, transcribed and made readable, so any resident can follow what the city is deciding without attending every meeting. This page covers one meeting; see the full archive.
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