Council Awards Contract for New Police Station

 The city’s police department is a step closer to moving out of City Hall.

The Rockville City Council voted unanimously—and without debate—on Monday to award a $6.4 million construction contract for converting the old post office in the Town Center into a new police station to Costello Construction of Maryland from Columbia.

The vote on the contract was part of the meeting’s consent agenda. The council had already approved moving forward with the project as part of the fiscal 2011 budget, city manager Scott Ullery said.

The city has already spent about $700,000 on the design of the new station, said Burt Hall, who as the city’s director of recreation and parks also oversees facilities.

The total cost of the project, including design, equipment and moving police operations from its current home in the bottom floor of City Hall, is about $8.6 million, Hall said.

“We do have some significant grants,” Hall said.

The city will put a state bond bill of $100,000 and a state grant of $219,875 toward the project.

The city also is in the process of obtaining approval of an Federal Emergency Management Agency grant to cover the cost of purchasing and installing an emergency generator, at a cost of about $224,000.

The city acquired the building for free, though it must be renovated, Councilman Mark Pierzchala said in comments after the vote.

“When you look at putting a new police station somewhere, to do it from scratch would be a lot more expensive,” Pierzchala said. “Plus it frees up a lot of nice space at City Hall for other departments.”

“I’m not suggesting that we don’t have a good deal here,” Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio said. “I’m just saying it’s costing a lot of money and that we borrowed—what, $28 million—just recently sold more bonds and that’s supposed to pay for this.”

Costello Construction was the low bid from 16 bidders.

Most projects of similar scope get about five bids, Hall said. The winning bid came in about $500,000 less than estimated in the budget for the project, he said.

The struggling economy has created a buyer’s market for construction projects with companies placing more and lower bids than in the pre-recession era.

“I think this is an excellent price and it’s primarily because of the situation with the construction industry right now,” Hall said.

Councilman Piotr Gajewski asked if the city could pay for the project with cash, forgoing any borrowing.

“We couldn’t do it right now,” Ullery said.

About $6 million of the $6.4 million contract is for renovations and improvements to the historic post office, at the corner of South Washington Street and West Montgomery Avenue, construction of a stand-alone annex building and site work.

The contract also includes $405,000 for add-ons including evidence storage lockers, a blast-resistant curtain wall system and personnel and storage lockers.