FARMINGTON — Franklin County commissioners voted Monday to move forward with Taylor Made Homes Inc. of Wilton to build the dispatch communications center on county property.

The contract price is $476,231, which includes $9,195 for paving and moving the storage containers to the back of the Sheriff's Department building. It does not include Central Maine Power Co.'s cost to run 800 feet of line and install a transformer and utility pole to the building.

Project engineer Keith Ewing of Plymouth Engineering Inc. estimated $25,000 for that part of the project. The figure is unknown because CMP will not give a preliminary figure on the new service, Ewing said. He expects to get an estimate in two to three weeks.

The figure also does not include money for furniture or for a new tower.

Building Committee member Tim Hardy, who is also the director of the county Emergency Management Agency, has applied for grants to pay toward a communications tower and a third dispatch station.

County voters approved getting a bond to build the 2,200-square-foot center in June at $598,300.

Taylor Made Homes, Inc. was the low bidder of 15 at $498,900 on Dec. 4. The other bids ranged from $541,619 to $712,592.

Reductions in the project came from, among other things, eliminating backup baseboard heat at $2,453 and finding a generator with a standard weather-tight covering at $22,669 less than one with a large enclosure, company owner D. Scott Taylor said.

County Clerk Julie Magoon pointed out that commissioners can borrow up to $50,000 on their own, and there is about $48,000 in the Sheriff's Department reserve account for improvements that could be used for the project.

If commissioners did need to borrow money, Chairman Gary McGrane of Jay said it could be done on a draw-down basis.

“I'm feeling a little more comfortable,” he said of moving forward with the project.

dperry@sunjournal.com