After a long wait and slight delay, we are digging the foundation in at the West Linn Police Station! The West Linn Tidings covered the event. Click Here to read the story.
Text of Article:
It was a moment that seemed far off in the distance earlier this summer, when bids for the construction of the new West Linn police station came in well over budget.
Yet on Monday the long-awaited construction project finally began, as the city held an official groundbreaking ceremony at the site, on the corner of Eighth Avenue and 13th Street. The event marked the beginning of a 10-month project led by Todd Construction, which saw its $5.25 million bid accepted by the West Linn City Council on Aug. 19.
Just after officially breaking ground with the swipe of a shovel alongside his fellow city councilors, Mayor John Kovash took the time to reflect.
“It’s been a long process,” Kovash said. “We’ve been at this for a number of years, and it’s very gratifying to see the bonds passed, the contract is let and we’re in a good position to have a police station that will match the capabilities of this police department.”
After Monday’s pomp and circumstance, Todd Construction began official construction work on Tuesday. The project is slated for completion in about 10 months.
“To finally see the equipment here and talk to the foreman and the contractor, to hear what they’re going to do, and they’re going to be pushing dirt tomorrow, it’s very exciting,” Police Chief Terry Timeus said. “A lot of people worked a lot of hours on this, and if it wasn’t for every one of those people, this wouldn’t have happened.”
The project is the result of an $8.5 million general obligation bond measure approved by voters in November 2011. The West Linn Planning Commission approved the necessary conditional use permits for the project during its meeting on Feb. 20.
The current police station was built in 1936, and, according to Timeus, it is no longer equipped to serve the department adequately.
The project first opened for bidding June 5 and attracted five bids ranging from $5.9 million to $6.5 million.
The city, however, had only budgeted for a maximum of $5 million in construction costs, and in response, the city council voted June 17 to reject all bids and rebid the contract — a process that delayed the project by about two months.
Though Todd Construction’s official bid of $5,383,898 was also above budget, the city council determined that — with some changes suggested by Bob Galante, the project manager, and already approved by Todd Construction — the final contract could be whittled down to an acceptable $5.25 million.
City Councilor Thomas Frank was involved with the project from the very beginning, as a member of the political action committee along with the oversight and steering committees. There was frustration along the way, especially when the first bids came in so far over budget, but what mattered was the end result — standing on the grounds less than 24 hours before the construction team began the real heavy lifting.
“It’s a big milestone to be here and finally moving forward on the project,” Frank said. “We finally overcame (the bid problem), everyone put their thinking caps on and we got over the finish line.”
The new two-story, 20,024-square-foot police station will be designed to withstand a seismic design category D earthquake, provide emergency dispatch and operations capability, accommodate training, evidence processing, storage, operations, communication and staffing needs for officers and K-9 units.
