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OROVILLE — The Oroville City Council considered two bids Tuesday for the construction of a fence and gates around the perimeter of Sank Park which encompasses the C. F. Lott Home, purchased by Charles Fayette Lott in 1856.

“For me it’s not just a fence,” Mayor Chuck Reynolds said. “This is a security measure to protect one of our most prized historical possessions.”

The park is planned to have its wood and chain link fence replaced with a wrought iron fence complete with pointed tips, ornate corner posts, vehicle gates, pedestrian gates and security hardware.

Two bids were brought to council which will cost the city — supplemented with a $177,952 grant from California State Parks — either $91,436.81 for bid A or $445,192.50 for bid B.

Assistant Community Development Director Dawn Nevers said bid A uses prefabricated fences which lowers cost and that bid B would be custom built to the city’s specifications costing more money.

Resident Bill Spear said the city should save money and focus its priority on other city needs like helping fund Oroville Rescue Mission’s Pallet shelter project.

“We should do the cheaper measure. Even though it could look nicer and be better, the fiscally responsible thing would be bid A,” Spear said.

Councilor David Pittman said he would be in favor of going with the less expensive bid A fence.Related Articles Chico adds more than $25,000 in additional fees to cannabis businesses Chico council votes 6-1 to end local COVID-19 emergency Oroville increases funding for convention center remodel Chico approves additional $831K for new fire vehicles Chico begins camp enforcement at Little Chico Creek

“You gotta remember what we’re replacing here: a wooden chicken wire fence for a nice metal fence,” Pittman said.

Reynolds responded to Pittman’s saying that bid A didn’t meet minimum requirements and in his opinion would most likely not be considered.

“It doesn’t do any good to take something down that’s ineffective and put something back that’s ineffective. If we’re going to do it, let’s do it all the way,” Reynolds said.

One resident said they didn’t know there was an option between the two and asked for a visualization to which there was no complete rendering.

The council took no action and asked for a presentation of the two fences at the next council meeting.

“We need to be real clear with the public what they would be spending their money on, whatever the amount is,” Reynolds said.

The council approved in its consent calendar information about the city’s vehicle and equipment replacement requests for fiscal year 2022-23.

Oroville’s city departments submitted vehicle and equipment replacement requests with a fiscal impact of $2,711,049.97 to come from the city’s capital asset replacement fund, according to a staff report. The balance after vehicles and equipment are purchased will be approximately $1,104,458.29.

The Council other several items in their consent calendar including:

Councilor Eric Smith said an estimated 10,000 people participated in the Salmon Festival on Sept. 24.

“This was a great salmon festival,” Vice Mayor Scott Thomson said. “Everything was really done well.”

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