KEENE, N.H. (MyKeeneNow) Two bids for the City of Keene’s Downtown Infrastructure Project were submitted at the full City Council meeting on Thursday, both of which were well above the allotted budget that was agreed upon by the council.

City Manager Elizabeth Ferland said the project received two bids earlier that afternoon: one for approximately $28 million and another for $30.8 million. The project budget, approved by the council, is $19 million.

“At this time, no action is being requested of the council related to the Downtown Infrastructure Project,” Ferland said. “Staff will take a deliberate pause to fully review the bid submissions and evaluate available options.”

These options could include rebidding the project in the spring. This issue will be taken up at the next Municipal Services, Facilities and Infrastructure meeting in January.

Councilors also rejected an agreement with Stantec for the Gilbo Avenue Solar Pavillion Project, which was originally part of the Downtown Project, but was removed and funded separately through a grant received by the city. The vote failed 10-6, with councilors Mitch Greenwald and Randy Filiaut saying that they wouldn’t support any future work with Stantec. Stantec had served as the engineering firm for the Downtown Project.

“You can’t imagine the frustration,” Filiaut said Friday morning on the John McGauley show. “[Stantec is] a big enough firm where something shouldn’t have come in 35 or 40 percent over [the] estimate.”

A few ordinances were passed during the meeting as well. One was a petition to turn a 1.24 acre portion of 62 Maple Avenue from Industrial Park to Medium Density, which passed unanimously. Another was Ordinance O-2025-35, which would regulate the muzzling of vicious dogs, which also passed unanimously.

There was one resolution relating to RSA 79-E, which is the Community Revitalization Tax Program. The update is intended to incentivize significant rehabilitation of aging one-to-four-unit homes connected to city water and sewer, encourage new or preserved housing units, and align tax relief criteria with current city housing, infrastructure, and historic preservation goals. This motion also carried unanimously.

This was the last full council meeting of 2025, and the last council meeting for three City Councilors, those being Mike Remy, Andrew Madison and Kate Bosely. These three were honored at the beginning of the meeting with a reading of the history of their time on the council. They also received parting gifts from Mayor Jay Kahn.