CARIBOU, Maine — Caribou’s fire station will soon get some much needed repairs to keep the town’s emergency vehicles protected.
The Caribou City Council, Oct. 19, awarded a bid for fire station repair work to Kevin W. Smith & Son for a total of $236,400, with the base project at $218,400 and an additional $18,000 for repainting the vehicle bay truss and ceiling areas after the welding work is completed.
Caribou City Manager Dennis Marker said the project has two major components, strengthening the roof truss system throughout the building and replacing and insulating the roof membrane.
The work is anticipated to take 70 days, however with winter approaching Marker said it is not likely that they will be able to work consecutively. He said the primary focus will now be to strengthen the truss systems over the vehicle bays before the snow falls, so equipment is not left out in the cold.
Next spring, the contractor will be able to replace and insulate the roof membrane along with the interior false ceiling system. The additional repainting work will also likely be completed at this time.
Jan Murchison, project manager engineer with James W. Sewall Company’s Caribou branch, recommended Kevin W. Smith & Son for not only being the low bidder across the board, but also for having an excellent set of references.
Murchison said Sewell’s most recent experience with Smith was during a Caribou High School vocational wing roof renovation project in 2014 as well as a Caribou Public Library roof renovation project in 2014.
“Both projects included beams, columns, and other structural upgrades,” she said. “They did all of this work in house. They worked efficiently and both projects went well,” and recommended that the council accept the low bid from Kevin W. Smith & Son.
Councilors unanimously accepted the base bid as well as the $18,000 additive alternative before moving onto the next agenda item.
