Council holds public hearing on developer-led design-build for new Station 95 with $15.44 million guaranteed maximum price

The Greenwood Common Council held a public hearing on a resolution to select a developer for the design and construction of a new Fire Station 95 and heard details about a guaranteed maximum price and funding plan.

City Controller Rick Wright presented the project and said the city used a build‑operate‑transfer process. “One of the advantages…is that the price is a guaranteed maximum,” Wright said, adding that a guaranteed maximum “means no change orders.”

The council opened the floor to the petitioner and heard from Jayden Wachell, fire chief, who described Station 95 as a three‑building site intended to serve current needs and future growth. “It will allow for future additional crews,” Wachell said. “It also will allow for on‑site practical evolution training as well as classroom ability for the training of our increasingly new and less experienced” firefighters. Wachell said the department has grown “from 62 full time firefighters to 86 full time firefighters at the end of this year” and that about 70 percent of firefighters have less than five years’ experience.

Wachell and Wright described a live‑fire training building, central wash station and additional storage and training spaces. Wachell said the station will support more live‑fire training in a controlled setting rather than ad‑hoc burning of structures.

Wright told the council the project team has completed design work and that the city has a guaranteed maximum price of $15,443,388 for the work. He also described the funding approach: “Construction would come from the sanitary sewer utility…so we could save on interest costs. And then once the building is complete and turned over to us, we would then have the RDC issuing bonds…to reimburse the utility for funding the front end of the project,” Wright said.

Wright noted the timing of any bond issuance may depend on interest rates. Council members did not take a final vote on the project during the hearing; the resolution had been moved earlier on the agenda and a public hearing was held.

Nut Graf: The proposal would create a three‑building Station 95 — including a live‑fire training facility — to address rapid growth in the southeast portion of Greenwood, an increase in call volume, and a substantial share of less‑experienced firefighters. The project is at the guaranteed‑maximum‑price stage and the council heard a public presentation and funding plan; no final adoption was recorded in the provided transcript.

Wachell provided call‑volume context for the planning case: she said the department responded to about 6,208 calls in 2020 and that the department is on pace “to be over 10,000 calls” in the current year, with annual increases of roughly 7–8 percent.

Discussion and next steps: Council discussion focused on the presentation; Wright answered procedural funding questions. The resolution to move the developer selection item to the current place on the agenda was made and approved earlier in the meeting; the public hearing on Resolution 25‑09 occurred as the council considered the item. The transcript does not record a final council vote adopting Resolution 25‑09.

Ending: The council received the presentation and held the public hearing. Staff and the project team will proceed according to the project schedule; the transcript records that the city controller and fire chief presented the guaranteed maximum price and the financing plan but does not show a final adoption vote in this segment.