Council approves funding for new police building

Funding for a new $2.5 million facility for the Montgomery Police Department was approved by the City Council on Monday.

The council passed a resolution after bids were opened on Tuesday, June 7, 2022, for the new building that will be constructed on the property north of the existing facility on Lexington Ave. NW. The low bid of the seven submitted was awarded to Ankney Construction with a base bid of $1.92 million that includes soil corrections, building construction, some interior components, and paving of the parking areas.

There were also three alternates as part of the bid. One was to include a standing seam metal roof rather than asphalt, which the council declined due to the addition of $112,000. City Administrator Brian Heck noted an asphalt roof will also match Traditions and the Mayo Clinic across the street.

The second alternate was to use more efficient fiberglass exterior windows by Marvin instead of aluminum-clad “storefront” type windows. The council accepted this as part of the project, which lowers the cost of the project.

The third alternate was to remove the existing garage and concrete north of the current police station. This was declined as part of the bid because the council awarded the job to Barnett Bros for $11,900.

Corey Brunton was pleased with the bidding process.

“We got some really good and competitive bids. The top six bids were within 20 percent, which is what we see typically,” he said. “We reaped the benefits of a good set of plans and bids. And we have great experience working with Ankeny Builders in the past.”

The base bid for the project is $1.9 million, but engineering, contingency, architecture fees, furniture, fixtures, and equipment bump it to the $2.5 million price tag.

Still, though, the total is under what the council estimated.

“When we did the original estimates, we had soil corrections and paving as separate items and not part of the construction. But when you take our construction estimate and add those back in, the estimate was higher than what the bid came in at,” said Heck.

Before the council unanimously approved it, Mayor Tom Eisert said, “This is what we’ve been working hard for for the past two years.”

The city will pay for the project using...

To see more on this story pick up the June 23, 2022 print edition of the Montgomery Messenger.