By KENNEDY GRIFFIN
(Greenfield, MA) The Greenfield Fire Station Building Committee met Thursday afternoon after City Council approved the necessary additional funding for the project to be able to move forward. The Fire Station Committee voted to accept the general contractor bid from D.A. Sullivan and Sons out of Northampton. D.A. Sullivan and Sons is also the contractor for the Greenfield Public Library project. Work on the fire station can be expected to break ground this fall and if all goes according to plan, the project should be complete in about fourteen months. The project currently stands at $21.7 million, although the temporary fire station is looking at needing to repair some damage to their walkway roof from recent rain events.
At Wednesday’s Greenfield City Council meeting, city council voted to accept the almost $1 million USDA grant and voted to appropriate $1.75 million for the construction of the fire station. The general contract bids came back higher than anticipated, like many construction project across the state, so these additional funds are necessary for the project to move forward and stay on schedule. The fire station building committee will meet this afternoon to vote on a general contract award as the bids must be responded to by September 24th. Greenfield Fire Chief Robert Strahan said construction should be breaking ground in the next month or so. City Council tabled the discussion on borrowing an additional $500,000 for the project furnishings, fixtures and equipment until next month to learn more about the borrowing specifics.