Kent could save $80,000 on fire station
Low bid comes in under estimate

By Diane Smith
Record-Courier staff writer

City of Kent officials received good news when they opened bids for the city's fire station.

The city received three bids for the project, including one that was about $80,000 less than the city's estimate. Officials will now evaluate the bids and talk with the contractors before making a recommendation to the city's board of control.

The low bid came from Carmen Construction of Tallmadge, which bid $3.449 million for the project. Other bids submitted were $3.685 million by Hummel construction and $3.785 million from Henle Builders.

The city had estimated the project would cost about $3.53 million.

The city plans to begin construction of the project in mid-September. The multi-phased project essentially will quadruple the size of the existing structure, which was built in the 1960s, Safety Director William Lillich said.

The working and living quarters will be built first where two houses now stand. After that, the existing living quarters will be demolished and replaced with new apparatus bays. Only the existing service bays will remain once the project is done.

Lillich said one of the first steps will take place Wednesday, when council's streets, sidewalks and utilities committee will be asked to vacate Alley 6, which runs next to the fire station. The alley, which once ran through to South Water Street before Haymaker Pakrway was built, is essentially an alternate entrance to the parking lot for the fire and police stations.

In about a week or two, workers will begin the process of abating the asbestos in the two houses where the working and living quarters will be constructed. The houses will come down shortly before construction so the hole the structures leave does not have to be filled in, which would be a waste of time and money, Lillich said.

The entire project is expected to take about two years.

A renovation of old doctor's offices near the city hall to house administrative staff also is set to get under way soon.

Lillich said he hopes the parking lot improvements will be done soon because some traffic from the fire department will have to be shifted to the city hall property during the construction.

Lillich said he is happy the project is moving along on schedule.

We have a quality project that's well within the time frame we set up," he said. It's going to be a long process, but that's kind of what we expected. Everything's on track.