NuTec will build Thurmont
Police headquarters    

By James Rada, Jr.
Thurmont Dispatch News Editor

THURMONT, Md. – Thurmont town commissioners unanimously approved the police commission’s recommendations for a stand-alone Thurmont Police station on Feb. 21.

The new Thurmont Police Station, as envisioned by town officials, will include three holding cells, a three-car garage, a workout room, laundry room, offices and storage rooms.

The police commission unanimously recommended on Feb. 16 that the new station be a 10,410 square foot building with 8,100 square feet of usable space.

“I think 8,100 square feet would be adequate to allow for growth of the police department,” said Police Commissioner Chairman Tom Iaccarino.

It’s a far cry from the 575 square feet that the nine police officers share now, but some residents think it may be too much space.

“Give me a size building built in Thurmont that’s 8,100 square feet,” Sterling Bollinger asked the commissioners on Feb. 21. “It’s the size of the (Gateway) market.” He said it was too large for the town’s needs at this time.

Town Commissioner William Blakeslee said the Thurmont Police needs assessment was based on what other police departments have. “This is really consistent with other police departments built in the state,” Blakeslee said.

The four project proposal costs ranged from $1.8 million to $2.5 million for a Thurmont Police Station and $2.3 million to $3.5 million for a building with additional space that would house a Frederick County Sheriff’s Office Substation.

The two police agencies had considered operating from the same building, but Frederick County’s estimated construction cost for the building was $240 per square foot. The per-foot construction cost estimates in the stand-alone proposals ranged from $149.75 to $178.

“I will never go with the county and have them build this building based on the analysis we have here,” said Town Commissioners President Martin Burns at the Feb. 16 meeting.

Iaccarino said not only was the county’s project planning estimate making the station more expensive, but it had also pushed the opening date far beyond the town’s target opening date of July 4, 2007. Burns said the county’s plan called for 12-18 months for project planning and that alone would push the opening date past the target.

Police Commissioner Martin Hickman said, “We just have to tell them (the county) we can’t afford it and invite them to the open house.”

NuTec Design was the lowest bidder at $1.8 million. However, the architectural and engineering fees, the only number the company truly controls, were higher than two other proposals. Iaccarino said NuTec’s references were very strong and NuTec’s proposal was more comprehensive, including potential floor plans for the building.

Major Scott Hopkins with the Sheriff’s Office said there is not enough money in the sheriff’s office’s capital improvement program currently to build a substation on its own, but the sheriff had always been looking at building with Thurmont or building alone. Now that the town has made a decision, appropriate land and funds will need to be found for the sheriff’s office substation.