Truro Looking to Reduce Cost for Planned Public Works Facility

TRURO – Truro selectmen learned at a recent meeting that a new Department of Public Works facility could cost up to $20.6 million.

A plan was presented to selectmen by Public works Director Jarrod Cabral and Jeff Alberti of Weston & Sampson, who was brought on to conduct a feasibility study of a potential new building.

While Cabral and Alberti said the plan included contingencies and that the price could come down, selectmen were surprised by the potential enormous cost.

Selectmen did not debate the need for a new facility as the department currently works out of multiple buildings that have code issues, safety concerns, and lack storage space for equipment.

Alberti suggested the new facility be built next to the town’s public safety facility on Route 6 as it would allow for nearly 19,000 square feet in equipment storage space and 32,000 square feet overall.

He argued that more storage space for equipment would help to save money on replacement and maintenance.

Board Chairwoman Janet Worthington said there is a clear need for a new facility but noted that she was unsure how the town would pay for it.

She questioned whether or not the town could handle a $20 million sticker price and was unsure if residents could take the potential tax increase.

The board also asked Alberti to find out if there are ways to lower the cost.

“We’ve come up with some very good ways of trying to reduce costs while still meeting the operational needs and not building a facility that doesn’t work on day one,” said Albertie.

Both Yarmouth and Orleans recently went through the process of planning a new public works facility.

The facility in Yarmouth is planned to be roughly 38,000 square feet with an average bid price of $16.3 million.

The facility in Orleans is planned to be roughly 42,000 square feet with an average bid price of $12.8 million.

Weston & Sampson submitted estimates that had a $1.875 million market and location adjustment factor along with $2.445 million for design contingencies and escalation.

The two items total about one fifth of the projects costs.

According to Alberti, the economy is making matters difficult as it is more expensive to hire contractors to do work on the Outer Cape. However he also noted that he played it safe and gave higher estimates.

“I would tell you comfortably, this is a worst case scenario, we can absolutely get that price to come down,” Alberti said.

“The thing that we are always up against is escalation, the longer we wait the more escalation goes up the more we have to cut but if you assume we move forward on this schedule I would say that there is opportunities for additional value engineering and fine-tuning.”

The project could see its first round of funding at the spring town meeting where it is scheduled to receive $1.8 million for design and bidding.

The rest of the funding is proposed to be requested in the spring of 2021 after a 10 month design and bidding process.

Barring any major setbacks, construction is estimated to take roughly 15 months.