RIVER VALE—The town council hired a consultant Feb. 14 at nearly $378,000 for management and daily supervision of construction at the proposed $12.5 million public safety complex.
That’s according to the township’s business administrator and chief financial officer, who said officials hope to see construction — at the former 3.25-acre Mesker’s property, near Rivervale Road and Prospect Avenue — begin this year or in 2023.
Business Administrator/CFO Gennaro Rotella told Pascack Press last week that that Epic Management Services Inc., won the contract for overseeing the project. Scope of work includes assisting project bid specifications, managing the bidding process, and overseeing daily construction activities.
At a cost of $18,770 monthly, the anticipated 18-month construction schedule will cost $377,860, said Rotella.
He said the timeline was an estimate and come in lower. Work also is subject to delay.
In addition, Rotella said most management proposals reviewed provided budgets topping $20,000 per month for onsite services.
He said while it had no influence on their decision, River Vale’s public schools has been using Epic as construction manager on its projects related to the mostly successful $35.7 million April schools referendum.
Rotella said so far an estimated $14 million has been appropriated for the new complex, including council approval of a late July 2021 bonding issue for $13.3 million.
In October, officials estimated an average $185 annual tax bump for 30 years to pay off the bond.
However, officials had noted that as more townhomes come on the tax roll from the 225 under-construction units in Fairways at Edgewood, the annual tax hit should be reduced.
Rotella said he and Settembrino Architects, the project’s architect, reviewed eight construction management service proposals in early December.
He said Epic personnel will be in their on-site trailer for six days per week to oversee all construction work, including pre- and post-construction contractual obligations. He said that professional services contracts, which Epic was awarded, do not necessarily go to the lowest bidder.
He said out of the eight proposals for management services, he and Settembrino interviewed only two finalists and chose Epic, which had the lower bid.
Rotella said over the next few weeks, stakeholders will go over the final bid specifications to be advertised. Once those are approved and reviewed by the police department, those should be advertised by April or May if all checks out, he said.
He added that bid specs could be delayed to mid-summer if changes are needed by the police, construction manager, architect, or due to other unanticipated modifications.
The township initiated designing a public safety complex in late 2018 when it bonded for $1 million for engineering and architectural services.
Settembrino Architects of Red Bank was hired in early 2019 on a $562,500 contract for design services. An upgrade to outdated police facilities had been talked about by local officials for years before the current efforts got underway.
In late 2020, Settembrino Architects presented to the council concepts for a 18,000-square-foot, one-story building with basement.
Unlike other local towns, which contract with an architect or engineering firm to oversee multi-million-dollar construction projects, Rotella said that having a well-established construction management company on site enables the project to identify and resolve problems quickly and provide daily, weekly, and monthly updates on project progress for him and the council to review.