by Dennis Dalman
Bob Strack, construction manager for the Public Safety Facilities project in Sartell, brought what he called “very good news” to the City Council at its Dec. 10 meeting.
Strack is the head of Strack Construction Co. Inc., the company what will build the facility to house the police department and fire department in Sartell.
The good news Strack presented is that the total bid for the project is about $430,000 below the budget estimate as approved by the City Council previously.
The construction portion of the project will cost almost $10,500,000. With non-construction costs added, Strack noted, the facility will cost a total of $12,676,000.
Bids were received at Strack Co. Nov. 20 and 21. The 141 bids came from various areas of the state, including the Minneapolis metro area and were highly competitive, Strack said.
In his presentation the council, he recommended three packages in the bidding process be re-bid to clarify what is needed precisely for those aspects of the work. Strack also recommended the council approve six alternates for the facility, which include recommendations for such features as a security wall, a mat-mover system, precast concrete-panel upgrades, an infrared heating in one area of the building, a high-speed overhead door and a snow-melt function at the police garage entrance. Those alternates would comprise about $300,000 of the cost.
The City Council unanimously approved the bids, with alternates and the three packages to be rebid. Construction of the facility will start next spring on a site just to the west of Pinecone Road S. The building will serve as a home for the city’s police and fire departments, which have long been housed in cramped, crowded adjacent buildings along Fourth Avenue S.
Author: Dennis Dalman
Dalman was born and raised in South St. Cloud, graduated from St. Cloud Tech High School, then graduated from St. Cloud State University with a degree in English (emphasis on American and British literature) and mass communications (emphasis on print journalism). He studied in London, England for a year (1980-81) where he concentrated on British literature, political science, the history of Great Britain and wrote a book-length study of the British writer V.S. Naipaul. Dalman has been a reporter and weekly columnist for more than 30 years and worked for 16 of those years for the Alexandria Echo Press.