During the May 6 Warwick City Council Finance Committee meeting, DPW purchasing agent Christy.L.Moretti explained the department sought the $136,000 to build a long-sought Conimicut Point Park shade structure, recommending the bid award to Probuilt Designs, LLC of Marshfield, MA. The funding would be provided from the city’s federal American Rescue Plan Act ARPA funding, she said.
The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act was passed by Congress in 2021 without a single Republican vote in the Senate or House. The measure, President Joe Biden’s first legislative victory weeks after taking office despite the Jan. 8 insurrection that four Rhode Islanders were charged for their part in, delivered $1,400 stimulus checks, extended unemployment benefits and sent billions to local and state governments to weather the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I know Councilman McElroy has been working with the residents of Conimicut on this, and this was a big project,” said Council President Steve McAllister. He noted that since the structure will be sited near the water, a number of design elements had to be examined.
“I know the residents of the Conimicut Village Association are excited about it,” McAllister said.
“This is a structure that the Conimicut Village Association has been trying to get for years,” said McElroy, which they were able to secure thanks to ARPA funding, he said.
Major Andy Sullivan said the WPD sought to increase their spending authority by $115,000 to design a renovation of Warwick Police Headquarters at 99 Veterans Memorial Drive, bringing the new total to $175,000 for the project, also paid for from ARPA funding.
Sullivan said the department recommended contracting for the work with Kaestle Boos Associates, Inc. of New Britain, CT, which also performed an analysis on the police station’s needs, finding that renovating the police station would be cost-prohibitive, so no renovation was performed, Sullivan said. Instead, the department will hire Kaestle Boos to design and administer construction of a new 100 by 75 ft steel structure on the existing police station land. According to the bid package, the steel structure would be used to expand the department’s storage, intended as a compromise to the original renovation plan.
“We feel Kaestle Boos is best qualified to continue with us on this project, as they are very familiar with that building, and in our objectives,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said the storage building would be used to house and shelter vehicles, such as the department’s newly approved mobile command center, armored Bear Cat vehicle, motorcycles, traffic trailers and BCI van.
“A lot of these things are out in the weather right now, so it can certainly extend their lives if we can put them in a climate-controlled environment, away from the weather,” Sullivan said.
Both the Conimcut Point shade and the WPD storage shed were approved unaminously by the Council as part of the consent calendar vote.
Author: Rob Borkowski
Rob has worked as reporter and editor for several publications, including The Kent County Daily Times and Coventry Courier, before working for Gatehouse in MA then moving home with Patch Media. Now he's publisher and editor of WarwickPost.com. Contact him at [email protected] with tips, press releases, advertising inquiries, and concerns.
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