Thurmont
to send out police station RFP
By Joyce M. Demmitt
Managing Editor
THURMONT,
Md. – Projected costs for a joint facility for Thurmont
police and the county sheriff’s office still seemed unreasonable
to commission members at their Jan. 3 town meeting.
The commissioners,
struggling to understand design needs and associated costs
for the joint police building, finally decided to send out
RFPs (requests for proposal) to several architectural firms.
Backing
away from his previous support of a $13,000 outlay to cover
a work session with county planners, “Mayor” Martin
A. Burns said, “It’s (a joint facility with the
county) starting to appear to be outside of our price range.”
The commissioners
said they’d like to see construction costs in the $150
- $170 per sq. ft. range. But the town recently learned that
the anticipated costs had escalated to $240 per sq. ft.
Commissioner
Glenn Muth asked, “What does the $240 per sq. ft. price
include?” He also said that since county design time
alone is 12-18 months, the board is losing its ability to
open the new facility by July 2007, as they had hoped.
The commissioners
had no clear answers and concluded that although they wanted
to continue to be open to a joint facility with the county,
they needed more information before spending any money on
the project.
“Our
desire is to do this collectively,” said Burns.
After
some discussion, the board directed Tom Iaccarino, chairman
of the police commission, to address any remaining questions
and to issue an RFP to four architectural engineering firms
that the commission had identified as qualified for this type
of project.
The commissioners
agreed that the design of the building itself would not inhibit
Thurmont Police Chief Gregory Eyler’s attempt to obtain
accreditation for the department, but they were concerned
about holding cell design and the confidentiality of filing
and record keeping.
Iaccarino
was directed to finalize the RFP and submit it to the firms
by Jan. 13, requesting their response within two weeks.
By going
through the RFP process, the Thurmont board hopes to become
better informed so that it could possibly meet with the county
in February. The RFP will contain initial needs assessment
and request pricing for both a standalone Thurmont police
station and a combined town police/county facility.
See
related story, “New
police HQ options could include relocation”
of this issue.
