Municipal Manager William Guhl said the additional costs were to be expected.
By: Lea Kahn
Township Council approved an additional $1 million bond ordinance Tuesday for the new Police Department and Municipal Court building, bringing the cost to about $9.3 million.
Last year, Township Council awarded a $6.5 million contract for the project. However, that figure did not include money for a communications tower and communications equipment, telephone lines, computers, wiring and furniture, plus the architects’ fees, a construction management firm and a communications consultant, said Township Manager William Guhl.
At the time the contract was awarded, Township Council approved an initial $1.9 million bond ordinance to cover those additional expenses. Mr. Guhl said the money from the bond ordinance approved this week will be used for a new Police Department communications system and for furniture.
The manager said the additional costs were to be expected.
"There were no cost overruns. To the extent that there were change orders, there are always things that come up on a job like this one," he said.
The new building is expected to be substantially completed by the middle of May, said Mr. Guhl. Police officers and Municipal Court employees should be moving into their new digs toward the latter part of May, he said. The 42,210-square-foot building is located across the north parking lot from the municipal building.
Construction began in February 2001, Mr. Guhl said. Although township officials hoped the building would be finished in 12 months, it is no surprise that the project will take closer to 15 months, he said.
"The project timing of 12 months was ambitious. It really should take 15 or 16 months," Mr. Guhl said. There were a couple of minor setbacks, but the project is basically on schedule, he said.
For one, the soil underneath the building had to be stabilized, Mr. Guhl said. The soil contains clay, and steps had to be taken to eliminate the moisture in the soil so that it could support the weight of the building, he said.
The weather posed only minor problems for the construction workers, Mr. Guhl said. There were a few rainy days early on in the project, during March and April of last year, he said.
The Police Department and the Municipal Court offices presently are squeezed into 8,350 square feet of space inside the municipal building and in modular trailers located outside the building.
The original plan called for a smaller building of 33,000 to 35,000 square feet, based on the size of police headquarters in neighboring towns. But when the committee that designed the building sat down to review the plans, it was decided to enlarge the building, Mr. Guhl said.
The police-court building, as designed by the Trenton architectural firm of Clarke Caton & Hintz, includes a two-car sallyport for the police cars, a holding cell, a booking room, six jail cells and offices for the judge, the prosecutor and the public defender in the Municipal Court wing.
The Police Department includes offices for the chief of police, the two captains and the lieutenants. There is room for the Detective Bureau and juvenile officers. The police department wing also includes interview rooms and a holding area for juvenile offenders.
In the basement, there will be a fitness room and separate locker rooms for the male and female police officers. There will be an evidence room and a vault for weapons and ammunition.
Once the police officers and court employees move into the new building, township officials expect to turn their attention to renovations of the municipal building, Mr. Guhl said.
The municipal building is in need of complete renovation, he said. The ventilation system needs to be reworked, and the electrical and plumbing systems may need to be upgraded.
"The plan is, once we get the police and Municipal Court moved out and established in the new building, we will hire an architect for Town Hall next year. The renovation work will be done in 2004," Mr. Guhl said.
"We will analyze the uses and office relationships to find out what best suits the public. There may be reason to move the tax collector and tax assessor’s offices closer together, for example. We want to make the building function more efficiently," he said.
The departments that are located in the modular trailers, such as the Construction Department and Emergency Management, would be able to be moved back inside the municipal building, Mr. Guhl said.