Bethel officials under fire for police station overrun

BETHEL — The building committee defended its decision to continue construction on the police station, despite knowing for months the project was almost $889,000 over its $13.5 million budget.

In a joint meeting with the boards of selectmen and finance, Jon Menti, chairman of the Public Site and Building Committee, said delaying construction would have increased costs later.

“Looking back, could we have done better?” he said at Thursday’s meeting. “Yes, no doubt about it.”

Menti said the committee ran into unexpected costs it could not control, and Downes Construction Company blamed the overrun on a tough construction market.

Cynthia McCorkindale, a Board of Finance member, said she was furious residents might need to pay another $889,000 to finish the station.

“There is nothing you can say that can justify taxpayers in good faith voting for $13.5 million and having it come to this,” she said.

Joseph Desautel, CEO of Downes Construction, said the volatile market meant the actual costs for mechanical and plumbing work were astronomically higher than original estimates.

“Yeah we missed it,” he said. “But I would tell you if we had to do it again, we would probably miss it again because we would never predict that value. If that were the fact, then this job was never a $13.5 million job. It was a $15 million job.”

The town’s insistence on using high-quality materials that will last 50 years might have driven up prices, Desautel added. Building committee members argued they did not want to install systems that would need to be replaced in a few years.

Officials said the project was $100,000 under budget until bids for mechanical and plumbing work came in. The bids for plumbing were $266,000 over what was budgeted, while the bids for the HVAC system were $585,000 over the estimated budget.

The committee tried to use cheaper materials and other methods to cut costs, but the only way to save $1 million would have been to reduce the station size from 26,000 square feet to 19,000 square feet, Menti said. In that case, the town would have needed to spend triple the money to build an addition in a few years, he said.

The boards of selectmen and finance will vote at a future meeting whether the town should grant the $889,000 needed to complete the project. Residents would then vote on the funding at a special town meeting.

Without additional funding, the town would have to leave the firing range unfinished, use the old furniture from the existing police station and reduce its spending on landscaping to stay within budget, Menti said.

Some selectmen suggested the town actually fund about $1.5 million, so the firing range could also be outfitted with equipment.

This equipment was eliminated from the project after a $14.1 million referendum failed in December 2014. The referendum on the $13.5 million version passed in December 2015. The town had planned to pay for the equipment later or if they had money left over in the budget.

Resident Tim Draper suggested Downes cover the extra costs since the company’s estimates were wrong. As a contractor, that is what he would do if he made a mistake, he said.

“If I screw it up, I eat it,” Draper, a developer, said. “I can’t ask my customers to do it.”

But Desautel said Downes would not pay for the overrun.

Downes and the town were supposed to sign an agreement that would guarantee the maximum price of the project. But this agreement is still unsigned because the project is over budget.

The latest proposal states Downes could build the project for $12.6 million, a figure that includes only construction costs. The price of other items, such as furniture and equipment, is not included in that estimate and would put the project over budget if taken into account.

Resident Bill Hillman lambasted officials for not yet signing the agreement.

“We deserve to know when the [agreement] will be accepted and get a full and complete accounting for this mess and who will take responsibility for this incredible screw up and step aside,” he said.