FARMINGTON — Franklin County commissioners voted Tuesday to extend a contract with Smith Reuter Lull Architects to prepare conceptual plans and a budget, among other needs required to take a proposed new dispatch building to referendum.
The project is estimated to cost $629,000 for a stand-alone building on county land where the jail is on County Way in Farmington.
The contract is not to exceed $2,000, with architect Stephanie Lull being paid $90 an hour, County Clerk Julie Magoon said.
The county budgeted $5,000 for architects to get the project to referendum. Of that, $1,800 has already been spent, Magoon said.
Budget Committee members have said the county should check out another architectural firm for the project, Commissioner Fred Hardy of New Sharon said.
But Smith Reuter Lull has done what commissioners have asked, even when “we changed our minds” quite frequently, Hardy said.
“I’m not particularly excited about going with another firm, since they have all the plans and information needed,” he said.
Since the county has already worked with the company for four years, Commissioner Clyde Barker of Strong said he was afraid that if they changed now, another firm would have to start back at day one.
“I really feel if we went to another outfit now, it will cost more,” Barker said.
Magoon reminded people that Smith Reuter Lull was selected during a bidding process. She also said the contract is just to bring the project to referendum, and not to see it through to completion if it is approved.
The firm has worked with the county for four years to try to alleviate space, security and environmental concerns in the dispatch center and courthouse. The architects took the county through a referendum for $4.6 million in building projects in November 2010 that was rejected by voters.
Commissioners hired Smith Reuter Lull of Lewiston and Bethel in April 2008 to do a space and structural needs study of the courthouse and the sheriff’s office building. The company’s initial fee was $31,500 if the county elected to do everything the company outlined, which commissioners did.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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