Councillors to review Consecon fire hall tenders

Councillors will review the tender for construction of a new fire station at Consecon when the Committee of the Whole meets Thursday afternoon.

The Corporate Services and Finance Commission report recommends the construction contract be awarded to Dalren Limited in the amount of $1,285,500 plus HST – exclusive of a back up generator to be installed subsequent to construction under a separate contract at a cost not to exceed $35,000. Six bids from firms ranged from Dalren’s – at almost exactly what council estimated in the 2014 budget – to more than $1.6 million.

With approval in place council would authorize staff to proceed with organizing a ground breaking ceremony in September at 14 County Road 29.

Design work began earlier this year with the appointment of Colbourne & Kembel Architects Inc as prime consultant. Their four-bay design, training facility and offices formed the basis for the tender.

The funding source for the project will be debenture financing. Initially the
project will be financed by a construction loan offered by Infrastructure Ontario
at a current interest rate of 1.62 per cent.

With approval to proceed, the new Consecon fire station is targeted to be completed by the end of February 2015. It replaces the Hillier and Consecon stations. Once complete, a 20-year debenture is to be issued.

The Consecon station is the second to be approved. Last month council approved plans for the eight bay station on industrial development land in Picton.