Police and fire stations approved in SCS

ST. CLAIR SHORES — Four agenda items pertaining to the projects at the St. Clair Shores Police Department’s station and the St. Clair Shores Central Fire Station were approved in a 5-2 vote at the City Council meeting on Oct. 21.

Councilman John Caron and Councilwoman and Mayor Pro Tem Candice Rusie cast the opposing votes.

The four items included as the seventh item on the agenda were:

• Approval of an agreement between construction manager Cunningham-Limp and the city at a guaranteed maximum price for the police and fire buildings.

• A request to reallocate funds for the lead service line replacement and water rate stabilization funds from the water fund balance to American Rescue Plan Act funds.

• Request to approve the submission of the final ARPA allocation to the state.

• Request to approve moving forward with securing bond information.

Sam Ashley, Cunningham Limp president, presented the first item.

According to items attached to the Oct. 21 agenda, on Oct. 16, construction of the police station was estimated to cost around $12,695,730 and construction for the fire station was estimated to cost around $9,516,470, for a total of around $22,212,200.

City Manager Dustin Lent said adding together the hard and soft costs brings the total for the two buildings to around $25,335,083. The police station total was $14,742,223 and the central fire station total was $10,592,660.

In October 2023, the estimated police department budget was $10,905,000 and the central fire station was $7,500,000 for a total of $18,405,000.

American Rescue Plan Act money will be used to cover $18 million of the project with around $3 million of that money already spent on other projects, Lent said in an email. The total amount the city received was $21,247,393 with a stipulation to spend it all by Dec. 31, 2026, the email stated.

According to items from the agenda, the city also approved the reallocation of funds put toward the lead service line replacement and water fund balance back to ARPA funds. These funds, in the amount of $2,027,668.69, were originally used to “keep rates lower for residents due to the then unknowns of the pandemic.”

The contract with Cunningham-Limp states that any unspent money will go back to the city, Ashley said.

“We would have to do a deductive change at the end of the project,” Ashley said. “But those go back to the city: 0% retained by the construction manager (and) 100% of savings that are returned back to the owner, which is the city.”

Ashley said if they exceed that amount, it comes out of their side of the equation.

“There’s no upside risk associated with the guaranteed max on behalf of the city,” Ashley said. “It is different, however, if somebody says we want to add one of these options that aren’t approved. Then, that amount would have to be changed.”

During discussion of the first item, Councilman Dave Rubello said they did everything they could, and that ARPA money is covering most of the construction costs. He also said the new 21st century buildings will attract more police and fire employees.

“I think that by putting these buildings in, you know, we’re doing someone a favor that’s going to be replacing all of us one day, so they don’t have to look at this and they’re good for another 50 years,” Rubello said. “I think that’s a pretty good deal when someone else is paying the freight on 74% of the bill.”

Caron said he wrote up a list of wants at the initial walkthrough of the police station. He said he thinks they all want better buildings, but it comes down to cost and how they are going to pay for it.

“We all want to give our employees the best that we can,” Caron said. “But it’s how we pay for it and how much resources we’re going to use from the future to get into it.”

He went on to say he’s worried about future costs including contract negotiations which he said will be the first since inflation over 20%. He said the increase from around $16 million to over $25 million is concerning.

Rusie said she agrees with Caron. She pointed out that prices have increased since July 2024. She said the police station started at $14.35 million whereas it is now at around $14.75 million, and the fire station was at $9.9 million whereas it is now at around $10.6 million. She also stated that these increases are incremental.

“So it just keeps increasing,” Rusie said.

Mayor Kip Walby acknowledged that the project has been a long experience and stated he knows it has exceeded what they started with.

“This process is near four years old of the whole ARPA and what we’re going to do with the ARPA,” Walby said. “Since then, in those three and half, four years, right, no question the numbers have gone up. Inflation has gone up.”

Walby went on to say he did not sit on the committee, but they came to the conclusion that building new buildings instead of retrofitting existing buildings was the right way to go. He also said the buildings are around 65 years old.

“We got a lot of good years out of them,” Walby said. “But it’s time that we, I think, put that money back into these buildings here so we do get something like 50 years with it.”