Town officials will open four new bids for the proposed firehouse next Tuesday and hope to find that the price tag will be lower.
At first, the bids were to be submitted by today (Friday) but the schedule for publishing legal notices pushed the timeline back.
The Firehouse Committee was dismayed last week to receive a low bid of $9.38 million for the structure, without another million dollars-worth of soft costs being factored in. In May, a town meeting approved $9.5 million for all costs.
Newfield Construction, the project managers, advised the town to rebid the plumbing, mechanicals, electrical and painting packages, all considered to be substantially higher than expected.
“We’re continuing to talk to the architect and construction company and are cautiously optimistic that the price will go down,” said First Selectman Matt Riiska. “We will meet next week to go over the prices. We’re not giving up on this. Everyone is in the same boat with all the turmoil in Washington with the off-and-on-again tariffs and trade wars.”
He pledged that the new firehouse will be built within the budget approved by the town.