After receiving seven bids for renovating the City Hall and Police Station, the Washington City Council awarded the project this week. The council awarded the project to the lowest bidder – Bushong Construction in the amount of $1,909,000. City Administrator Brent Hinson said this bid is about $17,000 below the most recent cost estimate, however it is still higher than the initial price point, “When we set out to do this it was more like $1.65, yeah. So I mean, $1.65 million. So yeah, we’re in a similar position to what we discussed a couple months ago when we got that high cost estimate back, we are at least slightly below that.” Mayor Jaron Rosien added that it is a project with longevity, meaning the building is expected to serve the city for the next 50-plus years. He added that this increased cost will take the city one additional year to pay back the fund, which should be fully funded again in two fiscal years.

City councilman Steven Gault expressed his disappointment with the cost, “This is astronomical. Okay, I understand why we got it here and I understand why this is there. My biggest disappointment with this whole project was we paid somebody to tell us what it was going to cost, and within the budget situation, and they didn’t do it at all.”

The work will transform the current building which houses city hall, the police station, and the fire station into just the city hall and police station. Bushong Construction is the same contractor building the city’s new fire station directly south of the existing building.