New Castle Fire Commissioners Award Bids for Firehouse Expansion
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Nearly 15 months after voters passed a $15.2 million referendum to expand Chappaqua’s King Street firehouse, the New Castle Fire District No. 1 Board of Commissioners approved five bids last week to move the project forward.
Commissioners voted for separate bids for general construction, electrical, plumbing, mechanical and sprinklers at last Wednesday’s special meeting. With the proposed transfer of $500,000 from capital reserves and up to $1.2 million in the general fund that was unencumbered at the start of 2024, there would be money to complete the build-out of the second floor at an estimated cost of $1.6 million in a second phase of the project.
However, board Chair Dwight Smith said the fund transfers are subject to a permissive referendum, which the public can force within 45 days.
“This is a momentous occasion,” Smith said, minutes after the five bids were approved, all by a 3-1 vote. “I appreciate everyone’s hard work that was put in over the years.”
An attempt to pay for an expansion of the firehouse was undertaken in 2016, with a two-proposition vote that was resoundingly defeated. Several months later the district put up a referendum, which was approved by voters, to buy the adjacent property in hopes of expanding in the future.
The April 2023 proposal to modernize and expand the firehouse with a 13,000-square-foot addition at 491 King St. was approved but there were delays in the bidding process, and rising costs jeopardized elements of the project. An outspoken group of firefighters has criticized the board for failing to update the volunteers and the community about the project and for secretiveness regarding the district’s finances.
Last week, Smith explained that there had originally been $2,457,786 in soft costs for the project and $12,747,794 earmarked for construction from the bond. Remaining money for soft costs was tabulated at $816,149, of which $637,390 was placed into contingency. The $500,000 from capital will be added to the remaining $178,759 of soft cost money along with using the $1.2 million in unencumbered money from the general fund to build the second floor, he said.
“We have money in some of our accounts that we can move and put towards the project with permission when we go to (a) permissive referendum from the public,” Smith said.
Michael Ligouri, one of the attorneys representing the fire district, said the precise amount for a permissive referendum would be known as soon as this week, after the new treasurer, who was hired last Monday by the board, computes that number. Then the board could approve the permissive referendum resolution.
“We’re confident you have all the monies you need to do the deal, but when you guys reconcile your quick books with your notes as you have them right now, have your treasurer in place, you guys would then adopt that resolution for the permissive referendum,” Ligouri said.
If the district would need additional money, Smith said the district could put the old Senter Street firehouse up for sale, although there would likely be a delay between when that money would be needed and when it would become available. The Senter Street firehouse houses old equipment, including antique fire vehicles.
Additionally, if the Senter Street firehouse is sole, a place would have to be found for the old equipment.
The major elements of the expansion are the three new bays that will be large enough to comfortably house the latest modern fire apparatus and provide adequate space to properly and efficiently decontaminate firefighters’ gear after returning from fires.
The board’s dissenting vote came from Commissioner Nancy Zezze, who stressed that she supported the project and appreciated the efforts of everyone to get to this point. However, she said she wanted to call attention to the suspect handling of the district’s record keeping and whether it had enough money to pay for the work.
“I still have concerns even though the financials were reviewed,” Zezze said. “I have concerns about the financials. I also have concerns about the record keeping. I will do everything I can to help move this project forward, but at this time I am a no for the vote, but a yes for the project, if that makes any sense.”
The single largest of the awarded bids was to general contractor Key Construction Services, LLC of Poughkeepsie for $10,138,000. The other bids were Tolt Enterprises for the electric contract for $983,727; SRI Fire Sprinklers, LLC for the sprinkler system for $307,000; Intricate Tech Solutions, Ltd. for the mechanicals for $1,818,000; and Southeast Mechanical Corp. for the plumbing contract for $881,898.
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Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/