Conshohocken seeks state grant to reduce cost of new borough hall

CONSHOHOCKEN >> Council adopted an agreement with the Montgomery County Redevelopment Authority March 18 that authorizes the authority to act as the boroughs agent to apply for and administer a $2.5 million state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant.

The grant will pay a major portion of the construction costs for the new borough hall, police station and retail space at the former Verizon building on Fayette Street.

Under the agreement, the borough will pay the MCRA a 1 percent fee of $25,000 and all direct and indirect costs of pursuing the grant application and administering the grant. The MCRA will charge the borough $155 per hour for Executive Director Jerry Nugent, $175 per hour for Solicitor Sean Kilkenny and $72 per hour for the program administrator. Other costs to administer the grant will incur a 10 percent markup for accounting, invoicing and payment processing, the agreement said.

In September 2014, borough council borrowed $10.78 million from two banks to pay for the borough hall construction. The annual debt service will start at $312,619 in 2015 and increase to $719,766 per year in the subsequent 24 years of the loans.

Borough officials said the $719,766 in annual debt service would be balanced in future budgets by eliminating the annual $240,000 that the borough currently pays for its office rental at 1 W. First Ave. The borough also expects to receive about $225,000 per year when all of the 20,000 square feet of rental space is occupied in the new borough office building.

Council awarded a $10,497,600 basic bid to TN Ward Co. of Lower Merion in September 2014 for the building along with alternate bid items that brought the total cost of construction to $10,709,600. The alternate bids included a vegetative tray system on the main roof for $103,500; a screen for the rooftop mechanical systems for $46,500; a six-panel, closed-loop solar hot-water array for a $38,500; an upgrade in the rubber roof thickness from 0.06 of an inch to 0.09 of an inch for $13,500; and a ground face cement block rather than split face for $10,000.

A change order from TN Ward Co. to wrap the interior U shaped concrete columns inside the building with sheetrock and hide electrical conduit for an amount not to exceed $35,000 was approved by council.

There is steel rebar coming out of some of them. There are holes drilled in some of them, said borough Engineer Paul Hughes. You need to decide if you want to cover the columns.

Hughes said the contractor had a revised price of $57,480 and there was $22,000 included in the original contract to fill holes and paint the columns.

Councilwoman Anita Barton asked about the number of columns and the reasons for electrical conduits being located in the concrete columns. Hughes said that building codes require electrical outlets every 10 feet in a commercial building. Continued...

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Conshohocken seeks state grant to reduce cost of new borough hall