GUILFORD – Two weeks into construction of Guilford’s new highway garage and town hall, decisions related to the project are still being made by the building committee.
Prior to last week’s town board meeting, only bids and alternates related to the construction of the garage had been awarded. But now the ball is finally rolling on the town hall portion of the project as well.
Based on the recommendations of building committee chair Susan McIntyre, the board approved alternates for sitework, general construction, HVAC, electrical contracting and plumbing for the new town hall.
The items fall under contracts awarded last month to Stevens Excavating for site preparation, Richard W. Wakeman for general construction, Climate Control for HVAC, Advanced Power & Light for electrical contracting and Treffeisen & Sons for plumbing.
McIntyre reported that the building committee has been working diligently to finalize plans for the project with an eye at keeping costs as low as possible.
Due to budget constraints, McIntyre said the committee had looked at the possibility of constructing a “shell” for the town hall with the interior to be finished at a later date. The committee discussed the idea with contractor Richard W. Wakeman of Sidney at a meeting earlier in the week. Based on the numbers Wakeman provided, they determined it would not be the cost effective option they had hoped.
“There would be no real net savings to do just the shell and finish it ourselves,” said McIntyre.
The building committee has been able to identify several other areas of cost savings. One of these items included going with a Galvalume roof instead of a painted roof. Using the corrosion resistant, alloy-coated steel would save about $2,000.
Another $6,000 to $8,000 could be potentially saved by substituting high efficiency LPG boilers and furnaces for the fuel oil system currently called for in the plans. According to Clerk of the Works Brian Treffeisen, there would be a difference in engineering costs associated with the system and a small savings on the electrical contract because the need for unit heaters and radiators would be eliminated.
Treffeisen is working to obtain finalized written proposals from the contractors for these changes. “We’d run these as negative change orders to realize the savings,” said McIntyre. “That is nearly $10,000 in already identified savings.”
Treffeisen reported that he was looking at other areas which could cut an additional $4,000 or more from the project’s nearly $2 million price tag.
The town broke ground two weeks ago at the project site on Marble Road. Treffeisen reported that in that time Stevens Excavating has removed top soil and started work on the retention pond.
Efforts to get temporary power to the site have been complicated by a “long lead time with NYSEG,” said Treffeisen. He will look at using a generator owned by the town in the interim.
The town has accepted the bid of New York City-based Roosevelt & Cross, Inc. for the project’s $1.65 million bond. According to Town Councilman Bruce Winsor, the municipal bond specialist’s bid was selected because they offered a more competitive interest rate than the other bid received.
Roosevelt & Cross also offered a level debt payment plan, which will make budgeting for repayment easier. Estimated payments will be between $122,000 and $130,000 per anum over the twenty year term of the bond. “We’ve already budgeted $135,000,” said Winsor.
The bond agreement will also include a pay-off option. “After a 10 year period, if we have the money, we can pay off the bond,” said Winsor.
According to Winsor, the money will be transferred on Sept. 25. “The money will go into our account and put into a CD so we can gain a little interest before we start spending,” said Winsor, who stood in for Town Supervisor Alton B. Doyle at last night’s meeting. Doyle was absent for health-related reasons.