November 21, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
The County Commission may decide Monday night whether to proceed with the latest plan to build a new fire hall in the Four Seasons Community.
The project has been in the making for four years but has been delayed twice because bids to construct the facility were deemed too high by the previous county commission.
Original plans called for the fire hall to be a steel frame structure of 40’ x 55’ in size consisting of two bays, a restroom, shower, and a small meeting room. It was to be a turnkey project with all the work including construction, concrete pad, septic tank, etc all to have been done under one contract.
The county altered the bid specifications during the latest round of bidding hoping to bring the costs down.
“There is no steel structure proposed on the inside. It would have wood posts and wood trusses. No storage upstairs. It does have a bathroom facility with a shower and a septic tank. It would have six inches of concrete to support the fire truck and two 12 foot doors,” said County Mayor Tim Stribling during Tuesday night’s All-Committees meeting of the County Commission.
Four bids were received for this design of the firehall. The lowest came from Johnson Builders of Doyle, Tennessee. Their base bid was $160,820 with alternate deducts of $8,000 for work on the parking lot and $4,000 to add insulation to the building. The other base bids were $178,787 from Bates Construction of Smithville, $188,500 from Fuel Tank Maintenance of Cookeville, and $221,409 from Garver Builders of Gallatin.
The county already has budgeted $165,000 this year for the project from the capital projects portion of the budget.
“We have bid this three times and I can’t see bidding it again. This is about as basic as you’re going to get for a two bay fire hall. There will have to be some site work. Some dirt will have to be moved but this bid includes that,” said County Mayor Stribling.
“This is a pole barn not a steel frame right,” asked County Commissioner Myron Rhody?
“This is wood poles with wood trusses two feet apart. We can go to a single bay if you think it’s too high,” answered Stribling.
“That’s awful high for a pole barn. I know a farmer who built a 60’ x 100’ (barn) with two big bay doors, concrete and all for $50,000. He added a shed on to it for $10,000 more. His is insulated with electricity and water and I think he has a bathroom in it. I know it was built five or six years ago but I don’t think things have increased that drastically. We’re talking about building one half that size for $170,000. I am not knocking the fire hall but I just don’t see it,” said Rhody.
“I think it’s pretty high. We could build two (firehalls) for that. We need one down there (Four Seasons) but I think it would be better if we could spread the money out a little bit further and get more for our money. It could be done cheaper,” said Commissioner Bobby Johnson.
“We had the same conversation with the last commission. We all felt it was too high. People were building pole barns everywhere so much cheaper. Why? Guys, I am telling you it’s not going to get any better. This has been dragging on for four years,” said Commissioner Anita Puckett.
“Well I am not going to be for any $170,000 barn,” responded Commissioner Rhody.
“Are there other alternatives? Could the county be the contractor and sub out portions of the project,” asked County Commissioner Bruce Malone?
“You could but you still must have an engineer. Any project over $25,000 requires an engineer or architect,” replied County Mayor Stribling.
“I know this looks like a lot and I thought the same thing that we could go out and buy something for $60,000 and look just as nice but this is the third time we have done it (sought bids for the project). They (bidders) know it’s a county government and that they can get more money from it. We’re going to have to spend a little more than we would like to. I really wish it wasn’t that way. They see us (county) for what we are. They (contractors) know we have money and they want their chunk of change out of it,” said Commissioner Matt Adcock.
During the previous round of bidding in May Triton Construction of Rockvale had the lowest base bid at $257,000 with two deductive alternates totaling $19,200 (deleting graveling and leveling the parking area and deleting external stairs and lowering the walls). Quality Builders of Sparta submitted a base bid of $278,060 with no deductive alternates and Preston Brothers of Woodbury offered a base bid of $285,300 with two deductive alternates totaling $27,690 (deleting graveling and leveling the parking area and deleting external stairs and lowering the walls).
During the first round in March two bids were received including one for $284,000 from Preston Brothers of Woodbury (minus $11,000 if the county put the gravel on the parking lot) and $197,000 from FTM Contracting of Cookeville (deductive alternate of $2,400).
A new fire station at Four Seasons would be the 12th station in the county operated by the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department. The other fire halls are on Short Mountain Highway, Midway Community, Belk, Keltonburg, Cookeville Highway, Austin Bottom Community, Liberty, Temperance Hall, Main Station, Johnson Chapel, and Blue Springs.
The county commission will meet in regular monthly session Monday night, November 26 at 6:30 p.m. in the downstairs courtroom of the courthouse.