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Council approves $10 million guaranteed maximum price and notes to build Fire Station No. 5
Summary
The Strongsville City Council adopted a guaranteed maximum price amendment and authorized up to $10 million in notes to fund construction of Fire Station No. 5 on Royalton Road; finance staff said notes will be issued short-term and bonded after construction.
Strongsville City Council on Oct. 6 adopted an ordinance approving the first guaranteed maximum price (GMP) amendment with RFC Contracting LLC for a proposed Fire Station No. 5 on Royalton Road and authorized the issuance of short-term notes to fund the project.
Ms. Kozak, chair of the Public Safety and Health Committee, said the GMP will set a “not-to-exceed” amount for the build and argued locking the price is a community benefit given rising construction costs. “This is the guaranteed maximum price, for the project,” she said.
Finance Director Mr. Dean told council the city will issue one-year notes — a $10,000,000 note issue — to pay for construction now, and then convert the borrowing to bonds once the project is complete. “We anticipate the 1 year note to be just over 3%,” Mr. Dean said, and estimated annual debt service when bonded would be roughly $735,000.
Council members said the station’s central location near Pearl and Royalton should improve response times; Ms. Kozak and others cited increased call volumes, noting roughly 7,200 calls last year compared with about 2,400 two decades ago as part of the need justification.
A member of the public, Justin Snyder, objected during audience participation, saying, “So this is the first I’ve heard about this fire station. You guys wanna spend 10,000,000 on it?” Council staff directed the resident to administration for more information, and noted the public comment period is not a Q&A session.
The ordinance to adopt the GMP amendment was moved and seconded during the meeting and passed on roll call with all members voting in favor. The separate ordinance authorizing issuance of notes not to exceed $10,000,000 also passed by roll call vote.
Next steps include executing the GMP amendment with the contractor, issuing the one-year notes for immediate financing, and returning to the market to convert the notes to bonds after project completion, subject to market conditions.
