Beaulieu offers Community Center update
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — City officials continue to work with contractor Nickerson & O’Day and others to look for ways to cut costs and keep the Community Center, pool and splash pad projects as close to original estimates as possible. Nickerson & O’Day originally was the second lowest bidder but was selected over J.P. Martin & Sons after submitting a letter to the city noting additional savings that lowered their bid enough to beat their competitors’ bids. Also bidding on the projects were Bowman Constructors and Sheridan Corporation.
Nickerson’s adjusted bid came in at $11,446,471 — approximately $2.4 million for the pool and splash pad, $7.4 million for the building, with $1.9 million for other incidentals such as a multipurpose room. Upon winning the bid, Nickerson & O’Day also committed to donating $30,000 toward the new Community Center.
In recent weeks, meetings have been held between municipal representatives, the contractor and architect to find ways to lower construction costs while maintaining the overall concept.
“I want to bring folks up to date on where we are with the projects. Word has gone around that bids were crazy high. The truth is the building bid was not that far out of whack. If you look at the two pieces separately, you’ll see the building was about 11 percent over the projected estimate, while the pool was 30 percent over,” said Chris Beaulieu, director of the city’s Recreation and Parks Department.
“What’s happening now is we’re meeting with Nickerson & O’Day representatives, as well as the architect, to brainstorm places to save. Our goal is to build within budget,” continued Beaulieu.
He said city officials “want to get as many pieces as we can with every dollar spent.”
To date, areas reviewed for savings included everything from lighting fixtures to heat systems.
“We’re reaching out to the subcontractors who did the dirty work of putting together much of the information for the bid package. We’ll be meeting soon to see where they are,” he said.
Though the bid process was delayed a bit, Beaulieu is hopeful things will get underway nearly on schedule.
“We still plan to break ground this summer. Nickerson & O’Day want to get crews working. They’ve been good to work with and seem very willing to make something work — get us where we need to be,” said Beaulieu. “They’re experienced in working budgets to get them where they need to be.”
Beaulieu indicated the contractor has experience on such projects, having built YMCA and other similar facilities in the past.
He stressed that city officials are working to “get as many of the spaces as we can” and that they “want to get more than what the base bid entails.”
“I think we can get there,” said Beaulieu. “We’ll definitely have a teen and senior room. We’d like to get some type of multipurpose room and kitchen as well.”
Beaulieu said plans for the pool may be delayed slightly, with that project tackled separately from the Community Center.
“The Community Center will take longer to build. We’d like to start that this summer. The pool won’t take as long; we hope to have that done by next summer,” he said. “Our goal is to have the building open by October 2016.”
Recent discussion on costs and ways to save have focused primarily on the Community Center. Beaulieu said a meeting is planned for a later date “to determine why costs for those are so high.”
“Once we know that, we can see what we can do differently to save money,” he said. “We believe the bath house is one of the drivers.”
He said while there’s more work to do behind the scenes on the pool project, “we’re moving ahead with the building and anticipate starting as soon as we can.”
Next Monday’s Council meeting will include a public hearing on a brownfield clean-up project at the proposed site of the Community Center.
“The city’s obtained funding for that, through NMDC, so the city won’t have to pay for it,” he said.
With summer fast approaching, Beaulieu said there’s other work needing to be done as well.
“We need to start building the baseball field. Bridgham (engineer) and B.R. Smith (architect) are working on that. We hope to have an estimate soon. We need to be done and the field prepared so we can play on it by next spring,” said Beaulieu. “There’s drainage work to be done, fences to be installed, that kind of stuff.”
Fund-raising for the Community Center continues.
“That’s ongoing. We still need to raise about $1 million. Once the number for the contractor is agreed upon — once all cost-cutting measures have been taken — Council will give the go-ahead” to begin construction, said Beaulieu. “Taxpayers won’t be ‘billed’ until the project’s built.”
He said once built, it will take at least a year to determine operational costs.
“There will be increased cost to run the facility, to clean, light and heat it. Until we’re in it for a year or so, we won’t know the exact cost to run it,” Beaulieu said.
He said the city continues to pursue grants for the project.
“We have grant applications out for around $275,000. Kim (Smith, the city’s grant writer) has been instrumental in helping us locate and apply for grants. We hope to find and apply for more, in an effort to help offset the cost of the projects,” said Beaulieu.
For more information or to make a donation, call Beaulieu at 764-0491.
