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Fairfield City Council could approve bid for new fire station Monday
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
FAIRFIELD – The Fairfield City Council could approve a bid for the new fire station at its next meeting on Monday, Nov. 25.
Fairfield City Engineer and Public Works Director Melanie Carlson said 10 companies bid on the project to build a new fire station in Fairfield. The low bidder was Christner Contracting Inc. of Ottumwa at about $7.3 million. The next lowest bidder was Bi-State Contracting of West Burlington, whose bid was right behind at just $20,000 more than Christner’s.
Carlson said she was thrilled to receive so many bids. Before the bids came in, the city’s architect estimated the project would cost $6.8 million. She said the city council doesn’t necessarily have to approve Christner’s bid just because it’s the lowest, though it typically approves the lowest bid. She said Iowa code allows for governmental bodies to reject the lowest bid if they feel it is not a responsible contractor or didn’t have the capacity to do the work.
“Generally, you take the low bidder unless something comes up in their reference check,” said Carlson, who added that the architect is checking Christner’s references and will make a recommendation to the council Monday on whether to accept it.
The new fire station is planned for the corner of North Fourth Street and West Briggs Avenue. Construction should begin next spring, and Carlson said the public will observe much progress from April through August when the walls and roof are going up.
“It might look like there’s not much progress after that because they’ll be working on inside stuff like the electrical, plumbing and doors,” she said.
The plan is for the Fairfield Fire Department to move into its new home in the spring or summer of 2026.
Two years ago, Fairfield voters approved a bond to borrow $5 million on what was then expected to be a $6 million fire station. Carlson said that, due to inflation causing the cost of construction materials to balloon, the city had to redesign the new fire station by decreasing the number of garage doors and consolidating the training tower and hose-drying tower into a single structure.
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
