Architect, Building Committee Finalizing Police Station Design

Members of the Police Station Building Committee (PSBC) met with architects from the Carrell Group Monday night to finalize the police station design and construction documents and begin working on the bidding schedule.

The members want to have station construction out to bid by Aug. 25, given the design changes needed and permitting meetings required.

Monday's meeting failed to produce a quorum, but according to Chairman Patrick Jones, all members had ample time to submit their comments, questions and concerns to both he and the architects, in the two weeks since the full committee reviewed the “final” design plans on June 27.

The purpose of Monday night’s meeting was to make sure there were no questions from the architects about those comments, questions and concerns and to begin to set the schedule for how the project will move forward from this point on.

During the discussion of the issues raised during the final plan review two weeks ago, architect Greg Carrell, principal of the Carrell Group, agreed to rework the plans to remove the proposed sixth cell and replace it with an interview room/support room for detectives, in an effort to save the cost of construction of the sixth cell.

“Many of the issues that were raised (in the comments) by the committee, we had already caught and made corrections to,” explained Carrell at the beginning of the meeting.

Nevertheless, Carrell said the company would make all adjustments to the final plans and specifications and create a list for the committee that explains what action was taken in response to each item on the committee’s list.

Carrell also said that he expects to have plans for the police station filed with the town’s building department by this Wednesday (July 13), to begin the town permitting process.

Since the project will have to go through the Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals and Conservation Commission, the July 13 filing date means that the project will not be able to get on the agenda for either the Conservation or ZBA meetings in July, and will have to be put off until August. The Carrell Group will seek to be placed on the agenda for the upcoming July 25 Planning Board meeting. PSBC Chairman Pat Jones is also the chair of the Planning Board.

In anticipation of a hearing before the Zoning Board of Appeals on Aug. 22, the Carrell Group proposed releasing the bid documents on Aug. 25, so that if the Zoning Board has any issues it wants to address, they can be included as amendments to the plans during the bid process.

With a target date for the Invitation for Bids (IFB) process on Aug. 25 a schedule of events can begin to be formed.

Prior to the release of bid documents (including design and construction plans), the project must be advertised for two weeks in the Central Register. Then two weeks after the bid documents are released, filed sub-contractor bids will be opened. The results of the filed sub-bids will be released to general contractors (GCs) and the town can give GCs either one or two weeks to file their own bids for the overall project.

With that schedule in mind, it is reasonable to expect that the town could have a general contractor selected and under contract to begin the work by the end of September.