Crime & Safety
Waukesha Company Lowest Bidder for Fire Station Construction
Board of Public Works approves hiring lowest bid to relocate Waukesha Fire Station No. 2
The company that will construct the new Waukesha Fire Station No. 2 is the only company from Waukesha that submitted a bid to relocate the fire station from Stardust Drive by Highway 164 and East Moreland Boulevard to Pearl Street near the Les Paul Bypass.
The Board of Public Works unanimously approved the bid. The Common Council still needs to approve the bid but the issue will be placed on the consent agenda, which is normally passed through unanimously without discussion. If an alderman chooses to remove the item from the consent agenda, it may be voted on separately.
Tri-North Builders of Waukesha submitted the lowest bid to construct the fire station for $2.348 million. The city had budgeted for $2.6 million for construction, according to a city document. However, the entire project was budgeted in the 2011 capital improvement plan for $3.4 million.
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“It is pretty close to our budget and what we estimated,” said Fred Abadi, director of public works, adding that the budget includes equipment purchases.
A total of 13 bids were received by the city for the fire station relocation project, which is to address problems with an aging facility while allowing the fire station to be more centrally located in the area to provide lower response times in the city.
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The second highest bidder was Wauwatosa-based Stadler Construction, which bid the project at $2.372 million.
The highest bid was from CD Smith Construction out of Fond du Lac for $2.599 million.
"You can't get more competitive than this," Abadi said.
Alderman Joe Pieper made it clear Thursday night that the Board of Public Works was not debating the merits of the fire station because the Common Council had already made the decision to relocate the fire station. Pieper had voted against the relocation during the 2011 budget process.
“While I am not supportive of the project, I support the bid,” Pieper said.
Construction on the fire station is to begin this spring and is expected to be complete in spring 2012.
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