FARMINGTON — Franklin County commissioners voted 2-1 Wednesday to award a contract to Plymouth Engineering Inc. of Plymouth for architectural services for the new dispatch center.

The $29,860 bid was the lowest of six submitted and does not include any additional fees, if there are any.

The high bid was $53, 249.

Each commissioner previously had a different recommendation of a firm to do the work. After interviews and reference and history checks, Chairman Gary McGrane of Jay and Fred Hardy of New Sharon agreed Monday to stick to the low bidder. Clyde Barker of Strong opposed.

All of the firms in the running, including Port City Architecture of Portland which bid $39,000, received good reviews from references, county Clerk Julie Magoon said.

The Building Committee, which has worked on the dispatch center project, had wanted to stay with Smith Reuter Lull Architects of Lewiston and Bethel. The firm’s bid was $44,000, which was all inclusive of costs.

Barker, who was a nonvoting member of the Building Committee, also wanted to go with that firm.

Hardy said he could see no reason not to go with the low bidder.

“I believe they have the experience,” he said, 43 years worth of it. “I don’t see any reason not to pick them.”

Some Building Committee members and Barker were concerned because the bid was much lower than the others submitted.

Barker said he did some polling of constituents in his district, including contractors and real estate people, to see what they thought of the bids. In the end, the consensus was to stick with Smith Reuter Lull, who has worked with the county for several years on building projects.

Barker named off what he referred to as additional fees that may come up, including lodging, mileage and limited site visits.

“You are going to be paying $15,000 in fees because they only want eight visits to the site,” Barker said. He said he doesn’t have time to go to the construction site everyday to make sure everything is going as planned.

Plymouth Engineering didn’t factor in a clerk of works for the project because the firm didn’t believe it would be needed.

The firm said in its proposal it would make eight visits to the site but during interviews said they would make 11, Hardy said. One of the principals of the firm also lives in Norridgewock, not too far from Farmington.

Barker said commissioners were putting a lot on county custodian Greg Roux, a retired building contractor, who is going to be a part-time clerk of works for the project.

He commended architect Stephanie Lull for working with the Building Committee to get the project estimated to $598,300. Lull put together the concept design for the dispatch center to go out to vote.

“We started with them. Don’t change horses now,” Barker said.

The only reason Hardy said he was interested in bidding out the project is because of some feedback that the commission needed to see if other firms were interested and what the cost would be.

“Smith Reuter Lull is an excellent firm,” he said. “They did exactly what we asked them to do. I do have a problem spending $15,000 more.”

Barker pointed out that Lull said the $44,000 figure was firm, and there would be no additional cost to the county for architectural services.

“We’re not building a hotel,” Hardy said, which the firm has done.

The county is building a fancy house for all practicable purposes, he said.

“I disagree,” Barker said. “It is a professional building.”

Hardy said he was talking about the design.

McGrane said he agreed with Hardy.

He said he saw an opportunity to save $15,000 and invest it in the building, he said.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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