Washington City Hall, Police Department construction project comes in over budget

The Washington City Hall and Police Department cost has come back $562,000 over budget. Kristopher Orth from Design Alliance explained that due to multiple big-ticket items, the budget has exceeded the original approximate $1,580,000 to now costing approximately $2,100,000.

At their meeting on Tuesday, April 2, Washington Mayor Jaron Rosien explained the committee which oversees design and construction on the project has met and thoroughly researched where dollars can be cut back. He explained that smaller items, such as file cabinets and furniture, are areas where they can save in cost, but more expensive and costly items, such as the roof and HVAC system, cannot be cut back because they are essential for the design plan.

'Unfortunately the big-ticket items are (things like) the roof. You don't put $1.5 million into a building and not put the roof on,” he said. 'There's just these big ticket items that in order to do it, and do it right, they become necessary.”

City Administrator Brent Hinson explained the city has a plan to offset these costs and fill the funding gap.

'Certainly we were all unpleasantly surprised with this cost estimate,” he said. 'However, when we take a look at the project we've designed, we think we have the right project.”

He explained the council has the ability to pull $267,000 unspent from the general fund and an additional $252,000 of unused project funds.

'If I felt like there was a way we could responsibly come to you and say, ‘Hey, we think we can carve $150,000 or $200,000 out of this project this way,' I would do that. I think it's important for it to get a good result and to be responsible to the taxpayers as well,” he said. 'I think we're being the most responsible to the taxpayers by getting a permanent building that's going to be energy-efficient and will not require as high of maintenance over the years.”

Council member Steven Gault was not pleased with the over budget estimate and questioned Orth on why this happened when a specific budget was set.

'When all this started you were told this is the money we got, we don't got any more,” he said. 'How did we end up missing by half a million bucks?”

Orth explained when the budget was originally presented to him, he did not feel the amount of work could be done with the money allotted. He explained the committee was aware of his concern and decided to move forward with the project anyway.

'The budget was established before the vision was fully realized,” he said. 'There were times early on where I was saying this isn't enough, but was told this is what's available. The reality is, we could redesign the project for the funds that you've established for the project, but there will have to be sacrifices made to be able to do that.”

He explained portions of the old building, such as flooring and ceilings, could remain, but if the council would like to replace them, they will need to come up with more money to pay for it.

'That's just the reality of working on projects. When you want to do a certain number of things and you have these funds available, you either have to make some sacrifices in the design or you have to bring some more funds to the table,” he said. 'I'm not sure how else you could accomplish that without making those concessions.”

He explained that for the HVAC and lighting systems, they will be energy-efficient and complaint with Alliant's rebate program and the city should see an estimated $12,000 a year back.

'This isn't where we want to be, but I think we've got a road forward,” said Rosien.

The building design for the city hall and police department was approved by a vote of 5-0. Millie Youngquist was absent from the meeting.

The next meeting of the Washington City Council will be Tuesday, April 16, at 6 p.m. in the library.