By MARK SARDELLA

WAKEFIELD — The Public Safety Building expansion and renovation project is over budget and the Permanent Building Committee expects to go back to Town Meeting in November to ask for an additional $2.3 million for the PSB project.

The Permanent Building Committee (PBC) learned at a recent meeting that cost estimates done for the design development phase of the project came in substantially higher than the earlier schematic design estimates.

The basic construction budget was known at the schematic design stage to be about $24,000 over budget. But when the design development estimates came in, the estimated construction cost was $910,940 over budget. That trend carried over to the “alternate” budget items, where the difference between the earlier schematic design estimate and recent design development estimate added another $1,384,893 in costs.

“Alternates” are specific components of a construction project that are not included in the base price of a bid or proposal. Alternates can be used to price out various options that the owner has in mind for a project. Bidders must submit separate prices for alternate options that the awarding authority may choose to include in a bid package. The awarding authority reserves the right to select or reject the optional work, based on the prices received.

Listed in order of priority, the alternate items include upgrading the sallyport, replacing three rooftop air handling units and a heating and ventilation unit, an apparatus apron, an apparatus retaining wall and using limestone instead of precast.

The schematic design estimate placed the cost of the sallyport at $228,734. The design development cost estimate came in at $325,256.

Similarly, the cost of replacing the air handling units nearly tripled between the schematic design estimate and the design development estimate. For example, replacement of just one of the units went from $88,559 in April to $281,809 in August.

The remaining items on the alternate list also saw substantial cost estimate increases between the schematic design and design development phase.

Members of the PBC asked Shane Nolan of LeftField, the Owner’s Project Manager, what was driving these increased estimates.

Nolan attributed some of it to market volatility, but turned to Justin Aubuchon of Bond Building, the construction management company, for further insight.

Aubuchon said that between the schematic design and design development phase, there was a “fundamental change in our understanding” of what each the alternate items involved. He told the PBC that he would have to go back to the schematic design and review the definitions for each alternate item in order to provide a better explanation for the discrepancies in the estimates.

Committee member Phil Renzi asked specifically what caused such a dramatic increase in the cost of replacing the air handlers.

Nolan indicated that some of that was related to equipment needed to lift the old units off the roof, plus the need to bring in a temporary air handler as each unit is replaced.

Renzi said that he didn’t understand what was missed the first time but would appreciate an explanation for the disparity in the cost estimates.

PBC member Chip Tarbell was more blunt.

“I’m not shocked that we’re over (budget),” he said. “I think we should go back to Town Meeting for $2.3 million more and do the project right.

“As far as I’m concerned,” Tarbell continued, “Town Meeting put us in this position. Town Meeting can get us out of this position. It’s not our fault or our job to try to find money now. They delayed this thing three years. We could have had it built and done for $8 million two and a half years ago.”

He advocated including the “alternate” items in the main budget for the project and telling Town Meeting, “This is what we want to build and this is what it’s going to cost. You put us here. Get us out of here.”

It was actually an election that scuttled the original $8 million Public Safety Building project, which was approved overwhelmingly (168-41) at the 2018 Annual Town Meeting. But after that Town Meeting vote, a group of residents collected the required 200 signatures to force a Special Election on whether the town should go forward with the Public Safety Building project. The project was defeated by 76 votes in a Special Election on June 26, 2018.

At the 2020 Annual Town Meeting, voters approved substantially the same project by a vote of 196-17, but by then the price tag had increased to $9.6 million.

PBC member Janine Fabiano agreed with Tarbell’s recommended approach. Trying to build the project without an adequate budget, she suggested, would only lead to the same kinds of complaints that dogged the 2003 Public Safety Building renovation. Some have claimed that the earlier project was mishandled and wasn’t built correctly.

Renzi said that he also agreed with Tarbell, but pointed out that had the original $8 million project gone forward, it would have coincided with the height of COVID, and that might have also wreaked havoc with the cost of the project.

PBC chairman Joe Bertrand suggested accelerating the bid schedule by a week or two so that the bids would be received by early November. That way, he said, the committee would be able to bring hard figures to Town Meeting rather than just estimates.

Committee members hoped that the Fall Town Meeting would be scheduled in the middle of November rather than the beginning, to allow more time to gather bid proposals.