Mt. Kisco to Get $360K Break on Firehouse Expansion, Renovation Fees

By Ed Perratore

The architectural and engineering firm retained to renovate and expand Mount Kisco’s three firehouses will make up for last year’s miscalculated estimates which required village officials to ask taxpayers for an additional $4 million bond referendum last November.

But the Village Board isn’t in complete agreement that H2M architects + engineers has done enough to restore trust.

Voters approved an initial bond in November 2017 for $10.25 million for extensive work, including enlarging the bays, bringing the three facilities up to code and complying with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), making the structures energy efficient and adding office space and training areas.

But H2M told the board last February that it had grossly miscalculated the square footage. Between the error and cost escalations, the original scope of work would have cost $18.25 million.

After consulting with Mount Kisco’s fire companies and commissioners, village officials subsequently scaled back the project back by eliminating the offices and training space, but keeping everything that affected firefighter safety. That move lowered the estimate to $14.25 million, and taxpayers approved a bond for an additional $4 million last November.

H2M’s basic fee for the design work is 7.5 percent of the total project cost, which for the initial $10.25 million bond would have earned the company $768,750. To make amends, H2M has agreed to freeze its fee for the project at the original amount, a $300,000 savings.

The architect also plans to reimburse the village $60,000, the approximate cost to present the second proposition to voters.

This time, the village will receive a second opinion on the prospective costs.

Mayor Gina Picnich said the specification documents have been submitted to an independent cost estimator.

“We’ll be looking at those estimates,” Picinich said. “If their estimates come in higher than what is budgeted, then we’ll have to scale back even further before we go out to bid.”

However, not every trustee was satisfied.

“Aside from whatever cost benefit that is provided in this amendment,” said Trustee Karen Schleimer, “there are a lot of other issues that we may want to revisit in light of (H2M’s) poor performance the first time around, so that we don’t find ourselves, should there be a problem going forward, in the same soup that we were in before.”

“These are real big numbers and a major project for us,” Schleimer added. “We should take the time to make them better, and I think we owe our constituents the diligence to make that happen.”

One of her concerns is that if Mount Kisco cut its ties to H2M, the architectural drawings would belong to the architect, not the village.

Trustee Peter Grunthal disagreed, pointing out that despite H2M’s blunder, the fire department itself is urging the board to continue the relationship and stick with the planned design.

“If we were to go ahead, at this stage, with another firm of architect, we would not necessarily get a better architect, but we would get a fee probably about 7.5 percent, on something like $14 million,” Grunthal said. “We’d be back to $1 million in fees instead of about $700,000.”

Were the village to switch architects, Picinich said, it would be starting from scratch.

“Had we had the original documents, the original drawings, they would be absolutely no use to us; we’d need to do a complete redesign,” she said.

Village Manager Edward Brancati concurred because no architect or engineer would put their stamp on another firm’s work.

The board appeared ready to approve the amendment but decided to hold off until legal review by Village Attorney Whitney Singleton. Changes he expected to make would require no renegotiation of the deal but would indemnify the village in the event that any party involved failed to fulfill its part of the agreement.

“There’s no provision that says, in the event that party X or party Y fails to perform under this, then the village shall retain its rights that it originally had prior to entering into this agreement,” Singleton said. “That should be in there.”

Once the village approves the amendment, the plan is to have bids available by the end of March for the Green Street firehouse, home of the Union Hook & Ladder Co. and Mount Kisco Fire Rescue Police, Picinich said. Officials also plan to settle on the lowest responsible bid by early June.

Bids for the other two engine companies, the Mutual Hose and Engine Co. on Main Street and the Independent Fire Co. on Lexington Avenue, should come in soon after.

According to village estimates, the average homeowner with a current home market value of $413,000 would see a $122 increase in Fiscal Year 2020-21, or about 3.52 percent from the bond alone. The following two years would see increases of about 2 percent, or roughly $72.