MEXICO — The town and architects at Harriman Associates are finalizing plans for construction of a new fire station, Town Manager Amy Bernard told the Select Board on July 7.

Bernard said she met 10 days ago with Will Gatchell, senior associate and senior architect with Harriman, fire Chief Mat Theriault and former Town Manager Jack Gaudet about details of the final plans.

“I brought up the need to at least revisit the construction management contract with a contractor that would have a guaranteed maximum price of the fire station building,” Bernard said.

The Select Board accepted a $4.5 million U.S. Department of Agriculture grant for a new fire station on Dec. 3, 2024, which stipulated that the grant had to be 75% of the project cost. That would mean the total cost would have to be $6 million.

At the June 2025 town meeting, voters authorized borrowing $1 million and taking $500,000 from undesignated funds to cover the local share.

In 2025, Theriault said the initial construction cost for 12,800 square feet was $7.7 million to $10.3 million, in addition to other costs including furniture. His final figure for the original plan was $9.6 million to $13.3 million. The size was then reduced to 11,800 square feet, with the construction cost between $4.7 million to $7.1 million, plus soft costs of $5.98 million.

At the July 7 meeting, Theriault indicated that originally they wanted a fire station with five bays, but when the cost came in much higher than anticipated, they cut it to four bays.

“It’s not exactly what we wanted, but when we built what we wanted, they told us it would be around $6 million. It came in at $12.5 million,” Theriault said. “We had to cut. We can’t afford anymore than what we’ve got. Even right now, we’re a little bit over $6 million.”

Bernard said the size of the station is down to a little over 6,000 square feet.

She noted that they’ve gotten quotes but haven’t actually gone out to bid yet.

“And once we go to bid, we will know what it will cost,” Bernard said. “I haven’t seen anything from the architect” to get the final request for proposal or request for quote documents.

Bernard said the Select Board is trying to get a construction loan for $1 million. The USDA issued a resolution July 7 to approve the USDA loan to pay off the construction loan.

“As soon as we have spent the million dollars, which will not take long, probably four or five months, the USDA will pay off Franklin Savings Bank,” Bernard said. “We’re over $6 million in the conceptual budget, so we’ll see where we’re at after we go out to bid.”

Bernard said they’re looking to have those bids by the end of August, “with concrete into the ground one or two months after that. So we’re at November before construction starts. It will be at least a year from November before they’re in there. So we’re 15 or 16 months out.”

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