Purchases Set for Future Wheeling Fire Department Headquarters; Subcontractor Fight Being Resolved
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WHEELING -- Work continues at the construction site of the new Wheeling Fire Department Headquarters, and new legislation is coming before Wheeling City Council to purchase furniture and equipment for the new facility.
This week, city leaders said a dispute that led to a temporary work stoppage among some subcontractors late last month at the construction site for the new fire headquarters is being resolved, and discussions are expected to take place to get a clearer picture on how any delays in progress may affect the projected completion date.
Members of Wheeling City Council will gather for their second regular meeting of the month at 5:30 p.m. tonight, when several new ordinances and resolutions will be presented.
New purchases for the fire department headquarters -- like the $9 million construction of the new facility -- are expected to be paid with money generated by the City Service Fee, or User Fee. Three of those purchases are up for first readings during tonight's council meeting.
One ordinance will authorize City Manager Robert Herron to spend $95,479 with Indoff of Wheeling for storage lockers at the new site. By comparison, Diversified Storage Solutions submitted a bid of $169,391 for the same need at the new headquarters.
Another ordinance will authorize the city manager to spend $33,081 with Indoff for furniture at the new building. By comparison, Wheeling Office Supply bid $43,983 for furnishings.
The third ordinance authorizes a purchase of $84,528 for air systems at the new headquarters from the company Breathing Air Systems of Reynoldsburg, Ohio.
Officials noted that a number of purchases needed to be made in order to outfit the new Wheeling Police Department Headquarters before it officially opened this past summer in Center Wheeling.
City leaders explained that it is typically more cost efficient to make certain purchases independently instead of including them in specifications for the overall construction job.
Work at the new Fire Department Headquarters is continuing at the new site along 17th Street in East Wheeling. Late last month, it was reported that a number of subcontractors had walked off the job in the wake of issues surrounding payment issues. The dispute apparently is being ironed out between the Cleveland-based general contractor &build -- a PCS Company and some of its subcontractors.
"The subcontractor issue is being resolved," Herron said on Monday. "Workers for the general contractor and some of the subs have been at the job site throughout this issue. The main subs are expected back soon. The completion date has not been updated yet, but there will be a discussion on that next week."
Originally, construction of the new Wheeling Fire Department Headquarters was expected to wrap up at the end of this year, and until the dispute surfaced, progress on the worksite reportedly had remained on schedule. Time is of the essence to complete the new headquarters, as the Wheeling Fire Department is currently housed inside the lower level of the Center Wheeling Parking Garage, which is slated for demolition. A $1,638,000 contract with Reclaim Company LLC of Fairmont, W.Va., is expected to be approved tonight for decommissioning and demolition of the deteriorating parking structure.
Demolition cannot take place until after the fire department relocates to the new East Wheeling facility. Meanwhile, demolition of the former Ohio Valley Medical Center buildings across the street from the parking garage has already begun.
Also tonight, members of Wheeling City Council are expected to hear a first reading on a new ordinance to approve up to $100,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to The Life Hub for building and facility development. Members of the Finance Committee of Council agreed to forward the request for a chunk of the city's remaining ARPA funds, but asked officials from The Life Hub to include specific information about how the funds would be spent if they were awarded.
The Life Hub plans to use its new facility at the former First English Lutheran Church on 16th Street downtown as a winter shelter for local homeless individuals. Long-term plans call for coordinated and centralized support services for homeless individuals and construction of a new low-barrier shelter adjacent to the church building to be operated year-round.