Bids for the Mehlville Fire Protection District’s new No. 2 firehouse at Telegraph Road and Whitshire Drive are scheduled to be opened Thursday, March 27.

The Board of Directors will meet at 7 p.m. at the district’s Training Facility, 11020 Mueller Road.

Board members recently agreed that the maximum cost of the new firehouse will be roughly $1.792 million — excluding the cost of the land.

As proposed, the cost of the one-story energy-efficient building with 6,554 square feet of space will be roughly $1.42 million.

Additional costs, including architectural and engineering fees, utility relocations, landscaping and furniture, fixtures and equipment, could total nearly $372,000.

The district’s existing No. 2 firehouse, built in the 1950s in the 5600 block of Telegraph Road, is deteriorating and needs to be replaced, according to district officials.

The Board of Directors last year purchased the property for the new firehouse at the northeast corner of Telegraph Road and Whitshire Drive from Darrel D. “Dean” Climer of Oakville for $600,000.

The existing No. 2 firehouse will remain open during construction of the new fire station, and once the new firehouse is completed, the Board of Directors plans to sell the old fire station and land.

The Board of Directors recently agreed to pay an additional $2,500 to Archimages of Kirkwood for the cost of consolidating three separate lots that the district purchased for the firehouse property into an individual parcel.

Archimages was one of eight firms responding to the district’s request for proposals for architectural and engineering services to design the new firehouse, and the board voted unanimously last year to pay the firm a lump-sum fee of $96,000 for its services.

The board last year approved a tentative budget of $1.31 million for the new firehouse. During a Feb. 15 board meeting, Greg Garner of Archimages presented the $1.792 million budget for the No. 2 firehouse — $1.42 million for the building and $372,000 in additional costs.

Referring to the figures Garner presented, board Secretary Ed Ryan said, “… Do we now need to add these two together and say: ‘Hey, initially we started we identified that we were making a proposal for the — the budget to be around $1.3 million for the house.”

Board Chairman Aaron Hilmer said, “For the cost of just the house.”

Ryan said, “For the house, right.”

Hilmer said, “That’s what we put in when we bid it out for the architects to draw. I heard a rumor that if you told the architect to use $1.5 (million) to draw a house, it cost $1.5 (million). I don’t know if that was true or not, but so that’s why we put the $1.3 (million) in there. We’re coming within 10 percent of contingencies and stuff with $1.42 (million) …”

Regarding the additional costs, the chairman said, “… Maybe we’ll get a traffic signal for free. Maybe we won’t. But we put $75,000 in there for that …”

Garner previously told board members that there still is a possibility that the Missouri Department of Transportation would provide funding for a new traffic signal at Telegraph Road and Whitshire Drive.

Ryan also referred to a Feb. 13 memorandum the board received from Chief Jim Silvernail and Assistant Chief Steve Mossotti outlining two concerns with plans for the new firehouse. One concern is the engine bays in the new firehouse are 46 feet in length.

“Each bay is therefore unable to house our platform truck, 1752, which is 47 feet, one inch,” the memo stated.

Another concern they raised was that “usable living space” in the existing No. 2 firehouse totals 2,218 square feet compared to the new firehouse’s 2,181 — a difference of 37 square feet.

“If the district does not have enough money in the budget at this time, it may be prudent to postpone this project until there is enough money set aside in capital projects to build the building so that it will serve residents for many years to come,” Silvernail and Mossotti wrote.

Ryan said he wanted Silvernail and Mossotti to elaborate on their concerns, particularly the one regarding the platform truck.

“… The House 5 unit, the 100-foot ladder truck, No. 1752, will not fit in House 2. And, yes, it won’t fit in House 2. But I’ve never been told that that ladder truck was going to be stationed at House 2 …,” Ryan said.

Mossotti said, “I believe in our early discussions, we talked about having a space that was capable of housing spare equipment or other equipment from the district, and as we started in our length, it was — those bays were longer and then over the course of time, they got smaller and smaller and smaller until a point where size was smaller than what our largest truck was.

“Intent behind our memo to you all was just to make sure that again it was clear, it was understood because there have been a lot of changes in these drawings over these months and what the results of those changes were. And in reducing the bay that it is now at a point where if we needed to move that truck there on a temporary basis, which we recently had to move it out of here for repair of a house, that it would not be able to be placed into that space.”

Hilmer said, “So the deal is and I think this is kind of a regurgitation of what we — I think we talked about this a couple months ago. I appreciate you bringing it up again, Steve. The reality is we have — there’s two places where you could park that truck, right? Correct? Here (House 5) and then …”

Mossotti said, “Here and then the other as far as an auxiliary that is not being used by another vehicle is the garage area at the shop.”

Hilmer said, “… Correct me if I’m wrong, I think the board kind of came to the consensus a couple months when we talked about this that we’re not — I think one thing I see a lot of when people build, especially on public projects, is it’s easy to say: ‘for every contingency in the world,’ ‘for every reason in the world,’ and I don’t think the reason we’re redoing — relocating and redoing the house is necessarily to have somewhere to park a vehicle that is used sparingly …”

Board Secretary Bonnie Stegman said, “… I wasn’t even really concerned about that because that was only one vehicle … I got my concerns addressed to my satisfaction. I just wanted to make sure that our regular vehicles weren’t going to be growing in size and then those wouldn’t fit …”

Hilmer later complimented Ryan, who has been working closely with representatives of the architectural firm on the new firehouse.

“… I know you’ve done a lot of work on this, a lot of work besides just at the board meetings. I think we’ve delivered what you wanted to — a house that is functional,” he said. “It’s frugal … Like I said, I think there’s always a real proclivity sometimes for these governmental entities when you’re not personally writing the check, these things get built bigger and bigger.

“And I mean a great comparison I was thinking about you can look right here at House 5. Look at some of the largess on there and we’re paying a mortgage until the next decade because of it versus what we’re going to build on House 2. It’s going to be paid for in cash — no tax increase, no bond issue. So I think that’s a great comparison to see how it all comes down.”