With bids for the project in hand, Flathead County’s consolidated 911 center is $1.2 million under its originally estimated budget.
“That’s a real plus given the economic times we have,” Commissioner Dale Lauman said. “I think it shows due diligence with taxpayers’ money.”
Flathead County commissioners voted unanimously last week to award an approximately $3.3 million contract to Swank Enterprises to build the center. Commissioner Joe Brenneman was absent.
“I’m very happy it’s going to a local contractor and that we’ll be putting local workers to work with taxpayer money,” said Mike Shepard, a Columbia Falls city councilman and member of the Flathead City-County 911 Administrative Board.
Officials had previously estimated that it would cost up to about $4.5 million to build the center. Since the beginning, however, they’ve also said that was a purposefully high number to account for fluctuations in material costs and ensure they wouldn’t have to return to taxpayers for more money.
Swank was the lowest of five bidders in what was a close contest, with Swank beating out its next closest competitor, Hammerquist Casalegno Inc. of Kalispell, by just $8,877. The highest bid was $3.756 million.
Swank also recently won the bid for the Evergreen fire department building.
Shepard stressed that the lower-than-expected bids didn’t represent cut corners: “This is still the project everyone voted for and is looking for.” Instead, officials attributed the dip to “bare-bones bidding” because of a tight economy.
Flathead County voters narrowly approved a $6.9 million bond last fall to merge the county’s four emergency dispatch centers into a new facility in northwest Kalispell. The new 11,800-square-foot building will handle current and future 911 needs, act as the new emergency operations headquarters for the entire county and bring all emergency personnel and equipment under one roof.
It will replace a system that officials have called antiquated and inefficient.
In addition to the construction costs, the bond covers an additional $1.4 million to $1.8 million needed to pay for land, design work, utilities, permitting and other smaller costs.
Another approximately $5 million in state and federal funding will pay to overhaul the entire communication system to new state-of-the-art dispatch equipment, including radios and towers.
The original $6.9 million bond would’ve increased property taxes on a $200,000 house by $12.48 annually. Instead, the bond amount will be adjusted to reflect the lowered costs and taxes will decrease accordingly.
Officials also still have to settle on a clear governance plan for how Flathead County and three city governments will oversee development and operation of a consolidated center.
Flathead County commissioners and the cities of Columbia Falls and Whitefish have approved a new interlocal agreement, while Kalispell city officials have yet to do so.
As proposed, the six-member board would include a county commissioner, the county sheriff, the county attorney and members representing Kalispell, Whitefish and Columbia Falls. Kalispell and Whitefish city officials have questioned the format, saying that it would be prone to ties as the county and cities could break evenly in their effort to manage the center’s approximately $2 million annual operating budget.
Whitefish approved the agreement last week, however, and Mark Peck, the county’s 911 project coordinator, said Kalispell plans to take up the issue when Mayor Pam Kennedy returns from a trip abroad.