Council authorizes bids on a $9.3-million police station

Despite ongoing concerns about costs, on Monday (March 13) the Front Royal Town Council authorized advertisement for bids on construction of a new town police headquarter based on Moseley Architects’ $9.3-million design.

Moseley’s vision of the main entrance to a new FRPD headquarters. Photos/Roger Bianchini

Only Bébhinn Egger opposed the authorization, though Eugene Tewalt joined her in expressing concerns about the price tag a Council majority has allowed Moseley to develop its design on.  Tewalt reminded his colleagues that the original cost estimate Council received from staff was $5.5 million.

“I will vote for it, but I think we could have gone with another design and beaten this price,” Tewalt said.

Egger has opposed the project from the outset, indicating a preference to continue the current $3,000 a month rental of the old Warren County Sheriff’s Office headquarters on Jackson Street.  FRPD moved into the former Sheriff’s Office headquarters in September 2013.

Aerial perspective drawing of the two-building FRPD headquarters going to construction bid.

That move increased the department’s square footage from 4.032 to 7,236.  At the time of the move from its West Main headquarters in what was originally the town post office, FRPD had already been forced to move some operations to secondary locations.  And department officials note they are already stretching against that increased Jackson Street space.

Moseley current 2-building design was initially forecast to accommodate Town Police needs for 25 years, though more recently a 40-year number has been cited.  The approved design that bids will be received on totals 21,600 square feet; with 14,600 of that comprising the main headquarters building.

“I still think this is too much money for a community this size,” Egger said on March 13 in prefacing her vote against proceeding with the Moseley design.

John Connolly asked Acting Town Manager Joe Waltz about the level of contingency funding written into the project.  Waltz confirmed that it was in the 10 to 15-percent range at about $800,000.

Tewalt also got confirmation that the cost of appointing a clerk of the works to oversee the project from the town side was not included in the cost estimate.

Bébhinn Egger and Eugene Tewalt, to Egger’s left and right of photo, aren’t happy with the numbers tied to a new FRPD complex across Kendrick Lane from the planned Royal Phoenix Business Park.

It was noted by former Town Manager Steve Burke prior to his departure to the City of Manassas Public Works Department, that the original cost estimate quoted to council did not include many peripheral expenses like site work, engineering, furnishing and contingencies.

In fact, responding to work session questions last October, Burke noted that Moseley’s $9.3-million project estimate included $7 million in total construction costs, with $2 million of that number in site work.  So as for strict construction costs, that specific total remained in the $5-million ballpark.