By Brian CHERNICK

The Glendale Police Museum project hit two roadblocks when it failed to receive bids satisfactory to Glendale City Council’s budget of $125,000 and when City Council rejected staff’s request to appropriate additional funds for the project. The staff requested that the budget for the Museum be more than doubled to a total of no more than $280,000 after the project, which council approved earlier in March, received only two bids from Dorado Design and Construction Inc. and ACE Construction and Maintenance Inc. for $298,000 and $485,000, respectively.

Council approved the rejection of the bids and directed public works and the city manager to negotiate directly with construction companies to come up with a solid cost at a later time.

The Glendale Police Foundation had raised $155,000 for the construction and is anticipated to raise an additional $25,000 prior to the beginning of construction but the amount still falls short of what the two construction companies proposed. To cover the remaining costs, public works asked that $100,000 be transferred from the General Fund to the Capital Improvement Fund. Should the Foundation raise additional funds, staff said it would reverse the transfer and return the money to the General Fund.

Councilmember Paula Devine asked why the costs had more than doubled and if the project could be scaled back to be more in line with the original estimate. Director of Public Works Roubik Golanian responded that the original $125,000 calculation was a “guesstimate.”

“The Foundation … had decided that it would be able to raise the funds more than what they had initially anticipated,” Golanian said. He then explained it was the Foundation that had also decided to add additional elements to the project that increased its costs.

The staff report explained that the discrepancy between the anticipated and proposed costs was due to “development of detailed construction plans, plan check adjustments, the inclusion of ancillary museum elements” and the current construction market as the industry is said to be extremely healthy at this time.

Glendale Chief of Police Robert Castro told council that the Foundation has been experiencing pressure from donors who had contributed money for the project and were “getting antsy.” The chief went on to assure council that the $100,000 would be used to get the project started and the police department would continue to fundraise to pay back the General Fund.

Staff members suggested that direct negotiations would allow them to provide the contractors a better understanding of the project’s requirements and eliminate excessive contingencies.

The museum is planned to be built inside the lobby of the police department at 131 N. Isabel Street.

  Brian CHERNICK