Newbury Fire Station Project to be Bid in January
Newbury Township Fire Chief Ken Fagan told township trustees Dec. 30 construction documents for the fire station renovation and expansion are nearly finished and the bidding process for the job will be started in January.
Newbury Township Fire Chief Ken Fagan told township trustees Dec. 30 construction documents for the fire station renovation and expansion are nearly finished and the bidding process for the job will be started in January.
While the paperwork will be done in December, Fagan said he has been advised advertising the project at the end of the year is a waste of resources.
If both parts of the project, originally estimated to cost about $4 million, are done at the same time, the township will save about $55,000 and maybe some time for the department, which will have to be displaced, he said.
“We have to be totally out of the building in June. The entire station has to be empty,” Fagan said. They are debating getting a pod or trailer for office space during the transition while the apparatus can stay in the bays.
Fagan also said there is more flexibility now in choosing which bid to accept.
“It’s not like the old method where you had to take the lowest bid. Now, you can pick the best (bid),” he said, adding that allows competition by local businesses with which the township is familiar.
For instance, there are local companies that sell concrete and install IT that may be encouraged to submit bids for the work, Fagan said.
Trustee Glen Quigley said the no-engine-brake signs are still in process. The township will buy, install and maintain the four signs — one at each end of Munn Road and one at each end of Auburn Road — once a representative from the Ohio Department of Transportation visits the sites and determines the best locations for the signs.
Trustee Greg Tropf said a resident asked for signs on either end of Sperry to cut down on truck noise that has increased since the intersection at Fairmount was posted as a four-way stop.
“It’s like pulling teeth to get four (no-engine-brake) signs,” Quigley said. “I suspect, from the conversations I have had (with ODOT), that’s not happening.”
Trustees noted Sperry doesn’t see the same amount of semi-truck traffic as Auburn and Munn.
Quigley also said the mural planned behind the recycle yard on Kinsman Road is stalled until a new design can be made.
The Geauga-Trumbull Solid Waste Management District asked for a mural that depicts environmental action, he said.
“My brother teaches environmental science at (the University of California Los Angeles). (The design) is a class project,” he said.
Meanwhile, Quigley said he hopes the grant for the mural and cameras at the site will be extended or renewed for 2023.
