After the construction bids for the new Webster County Conservation Nature Center came in significantly over the original estimate, the Webster County Board of Supervisors have voted to reject both bids and send the project out for re-bidding.

Webster County Conservation Director Matt Cosgrove presented the two bids to the supervisors during their May 24 meeting. The first bid was for $6,990,000 from Kolacia Construction and the second for $8,195,000 from Jensen Builders Ltd., both of Fort Dodge.

“The original engineer’s estimate back in December of last year was $5.5 million,” Cosgrove said at the May 24 meeting.

On Tuesday, Cosgrove told the supervisors he recommends rejecting the bids and starting over. He said he will be working with the engineers to find some cost efficiencies in the project to help lower its price tag.

“It’ll show that we’re trying to provide the best project we can for the most reasonable cost without a huge delay in time,” he said.

The re-bidding process isn’t expected to have too much of an impact on the timeline of the nature center project.

“It only delays the project by about two months,” Cosgrove said.