Troup County staff recommends adding third apparatus bay to Station 14; cost estimated at $329,000

County staff told commissioners on Jan. 6 that it would be fiscally and operationally prudent to add a third apparatus bay to the new Station 14 at 3157 Roanoke Road while the contractor is still on site.

"We were able to cut $41,000 out of [the price for the third bay] and get the price for that apparatus bay down to $329,000," Jay Anderson said, describing value-engineering discussions with Principal Construction. Anderson told the board that the base bid originally approved was for a two-bay station with living quarters and site work; adding a third bay now would minimize later disruption and provide long-term flexibility for special-operations equipment.

Director of public safety Zach Steele and other staff said the third bay would primarily be used for special-operations equipment — boats, dive trailers and other marine or rural-response apparatus — and that staff anticipate working through deployment analysis and staffing adjustments over 30–180 day intervals after the station opens. Anderson reported about $45,000 of additional savings identified on the base bid and noted a 5% contingency line (approximately $150,000) remained in the project budget.

Staff asked the board for direction on whether to include the third bay as part of the current construction contract; Anderson said the item will be presented to the full board for consideration at the evening meeting and that funding options (including the previously discussed 50/50 split between sources) would be identified there.