Jump in new fire station costs dismays commissioners

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

An effort by the Key West Building Department two years ago to lower construction costs of the new fire station being built on Simonton Street has ended up doing just the opposite.

That was the story told to city commissioners at their Tuesday, Nov. 5, meeting when they were asked to approve a change order totaling $422,273 to add an elevator to the project. The move, which was reluctantly approved by commissioners, will wipe out most of the contingency fund set aside to pay for unexpected expenses in building the $6.4 million facility, leaving the project vulnerable to possible cost overruns in the future.

Engineering Director Jim Bouquet, who was not involved in the initial plans for the fire station, said that a previous Chief Building Officer decided that the city did not have to include a handicapped accessible elevator in the two-story structure. The reasoning was that because the second floor would be used exclusively by able-bodied firemen for sleeping and other personal uses, no one with a physical disability would need access to the second floor.

However, the current Chief Building Officer, Ronald Wampler, noticed the discrepancy after construction on the Simonton Street build had begun and checked with the federal government to see whether Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements would apply. They do.

“It was a decision made for all the right reasons, but ended up being the wrong decision, perhaps, in the long run,” Bouquet told the commissioners.

As a result, $375,000 needs to be added to the budget for the elevator, plus an additional $49,000 to cover an assortment of other modifications and additions to the original plans.

Margaret Romaro, a former candidate for Key West mayor and regular fixture at City Commission meetings, called the design mistake the “latest whoops” in a long history of cost overruns on municipal building projects.

“Did we not use firms that had errors and omissions insurance? How come the city is paying for another whoops,” she asked commissioners. “Can’t we hold somebody accountable? Why is it the taxpayers keep holding the bag?”

But Romaro was told that city staff, not the architectural or engineering firms who worked on the project, made the decision.

“I don’t think anybody here relishes the fact that taxpayers pay for things that we should have caught. But this was not an architectural error,” said Commissioner Teri Johnston.

Commissioner Mark Rossi also complained that ADA rules mandate the elevator. The city doesn’t have any firefighters fighting fires in a wheelchair, he said, and never will. He agreed that the change order was “sticking it to the taxpayers again.”

“A half a million dollars is a lot of money. I will vote for it but under protest,” he said, adding, “I hope we don’t run into these problems with City Hall.”

Rossi was referring to the construction of a new City Hall in the White Street building that used to house the Glynn Archer Elementary School.

Bouquet said that while firefighters are not physically disabled, it is possible that one may be injured on the job and need to access the building temporarily in a wheelchair. Other wheelchair users may also visit the station for administrative reasons, he said.

City Commissioner Billy Wardlow, a former Key West fire chief, agreed with the dismay his colleagues felt over the $422,273 change order but agreed that the elevator was necessary. And Commissioner Tony Yaniz, who was the lone vote against approving the change order, said the added cost “was hard to swallow.”

“We have people on our staff. There’s engineers. There’s planners. There are people who do this for a living. Now, you’re coming back and saying we forgot we needed an elevator? My constituents are asking who the hell is in charge of that? Who the hell signed off on this,” he said.