LEWISTON — City councilors on Tuesday reiterated their support for building a gateway entrance to Simard/Payne Memorial Park, asking the city’s Finance Committee to let staff negotiate a better price for the project.

In a joint meeting with members of the Planning Board and the Finance Committee, councilors defended the idea of extending the park toward the downtown instead of doing work along the Androscoggin River.

Planning Board members suggested putting the gateway park on hold and focusing on in-park improvements first.

“I would much rather see the money spent on river paths — improving that pathway to go from Potvin Park, past the Continental Mill and up through Veterans Park — and reduce what we are doing at the depot,” Planning Board member Bruce Damon said.

But councilors said they were fine with plans for the gateway park.

“The meetings I attended at the council level, it seemed pretty clear that this was what we wanted,” Councilor Craig Saddlemire said. “I think this will not be time well-spent shifting course.”

Councilor Nate Libby agreed.

“I think we should go ahead with the plan,” Libby said. “I’m not in favor of going through a redesign process now.”

The Finance Committee is scheduled to take a second look Monday at the bid submitted by J. Pratt Construction of Hebron.

The committee turned it down at the Sept. 23 meeting because Pratt was the only company to submit a bid. Finance Committee rules require the group to automatically deny projects if there is only one bidder.

Norm Beauparlant, the city’s budget and purchasing director, said he asked other general contractors that had shown interest in the project why they hadn’t bid, and they said there is little room in the project for them to profit.

City Administrator Ed Barrett said that can happen with specialized projects like the park entrance.

“Part of the problem here, this is some fairly specialized and detailed work in a lot of different areas,” Barrett said. “A lot of contractors would rather put a pipe underground or pave a street than get involved in this kind of detail.”

According to plans, the new park would create a gateway between Lincoln Street and the park designed to frame the entrance and add trees and paths along the Grand Trunk train depot.

Later projects call for more walking paths in the park, a recessed area along the southern edge that could be flooded in the winter to create an outdoor skating rink and plug-in areas for multiple small stages set around the park.

The gateway park would be the first project spelled out in the city’s Riverfront Island Master Plan, which was written last year. The city received a $900,000 federal grant to improve the area, and the first $180,000 paid for the study. According to federal rules, the remaining money can’t be used for engineering work.

After moving a Central Maine Power utility pole near the park and paying $111,000 to improve the bridge over the canal between Oxford Street and the park, the city has $602,000 left for improvements.

Pratt’s bid came in at $583,000, higher than the $530,000 cost estimate from landscape designers Richardson Associates. City Planner David Hediger said city staff would like to negotiate line by line with Pratt to see if costs can be reduced.

They can’t, unless the Finance Committee agrees to let them. Councilors voted 7-0 to ask the Finance Committee to allow the negotiations.

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