The Fire House Committee approved final bids totaling $9.3 million for a new firehouse Wednesday night. There will be approximately another million dollars in soft costs—insurance, contingency funds and the like, some of which may not be used.
“We’re very close to our maximum,” said First Selectman Matt Riiska, referring to the $10.4 million spending cap approved by a town meeting. “But we are working with our vendors to trim off at least another $300,000. We’ll be making choices along the way and [our construction manager] has already told the subcontractors to expect that. Then, we have to do our part to ensure that everything is on track and that no money is wasted anywhere.”
He said going out to bid yet again would probably only result in higher prices and predicted that contracts will be signed and funding in place for a late November groundbreaking.
Riiska is preparing to leave office after the November 4 elections but has promised to continue to work on the firehouse project to ease the burden on the incoming administration.