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.$/,63(// ) & 6.< ,6 &/($5 RELATED STORIES: Barely Two Months into Construction, Whitefish City Hall Project Over Budget City officials to review options for reducing costs and increasing funding for new downtown building %< ',//21 7$%,6+ '(& 1(:6 )($785(6 Barely two months into construction of a new city hall and parking structure, Whitefish already faces cost overruns that could lead to cutbacks or increased budgeting for the project. The latest cost estimates for the project are roughly $1 million over the approved budget of $14.95 *5(* /,1'67520 _ )/$7+($' %($&21 :KLWHILVK¶V &LW\ +DOO &RPHV 'RZQ :KLWHILVK 6LUHQ )DOOV 6LOHQW 'XULQJ &LW\ +DOO &RQVWUXFWLRQ :KLWHILVK 2IILFLDOV $XFWLRQLQJ RII 6XUSOXV ,WHPV IURP &LW\ +DOO FORGING A PATH IN FOCUS VIDEO SERIES /HJDF\ LQ /RZHU 9DOOH\ 9,(: 6725< 025( (',7256 3,&. 6+2: &$37,21

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    RELATED STORIES:

    Barely Two Months intoConstruction, Whitefish CityHall Project Over BudgetCity officials to review options for reducing costsand increasing funding for new downtown building

    Barely two months intoconstruction of a new city hall andparking structure, Whitefishalready faces cost overruns thatcould lead to cutbacks or increasedbudgeting for the project.

    The latest cost estimates for theproject are roughly $1 million overthe approved budget of $14.95

    FORGING A PATHIN FOCUS VIDEO SERIES

    http://flatheadbeacon.com/http://flatheadbeacon.com/author/dillontabish/http://flatheadbeacon.com/section/news-features/http://flatheadbeacon.com/2015/11/03/whitefishs-city-hall-comes-down/http://flatheadbeacon.com/2015/09/21/whitefish-siren-falls-silent-during-city-hall-construction/http://flatheadbeacon.com/2015/08/25/whitefish-officials-auctioning-off-surplus-items-from-city-hall/http://flatheadbeacon.com/2016/01/06/45302/http://flatheadbeacon.com/2016/01/06/45302/http://flatheadbeacon.com/2016/01/06/45302/http://flatheadbeacon.com/galleries/video-forging-an-artists-path/http://flatheadbeacon.com/galleries/video-forging-an-artists-path/https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/aclk?sa=L&ai=BkfnHHyGVVqjWGsGxvATkmKaYD_j8j94HAAAAEAEgyNDgCDgAWJiJ-K-GAmDJhqOH1KOAELIBEmZsYXRoZWFkYmVhY29uLmNvbboBCjMwMHgyNTBfYXPIAQLaAWpodHRwOi8vZmxhdGhlYWRiZWFjb24uY29tLzIwMTUvMTIvMDcvdHdvLW1vbnRocy1pbnRvLWNvbnN0cnVjdGlvbi13aGl0ZWZpc2gtY2l0eS1oYWxsLXByb2plY3Qtb3Zlci1idWRnZXQvwAIC4AIA6gIeLzEyMDU4NjIvTWVkaXVtUmVjX1JPU18zMDB4MjUw-AL_0R6QA6QDmAPwAagDAcgDmQTQBJBO4AQBkAYBoAYU2AcB&num=0&cid=5Gj0xt3DSbgbTA9XyWwLbhkC&sig=AOD64_2bTHRHt039za-OWiIkYhMm-exPgA&client=ca-pub-3932410345013643&adurl=http://www.davidfetveit.com&nm=1http://flatheadbeacon.com/2016/01/06/45302/

  • million, according to a memo from city manager Chuck Stearns.

    A subcommittee tasked with overseeing the project isrecommending the city council consider multiple options thatwould reduce costs and allocate new funds to the design andconstruction by borrowing from the tax increment financedistrict and allocating leftover money from an ancillary fund.

    The subcommittee’srecommendations wouldcover $772,322 of theoverruns, but an additional$227,687 would remainunfunded. Additionaloverruns could also emergeafter the latest design bidsfrom late last week, Stearns

    said.

    The city council will review the situation at its regular meetingDec. 7 and decide how to cover these unexpected overages.

    The city hall portion of the project remains in line with historiccost projections, but the continued design of the parkingstructure has led to heightened expenses.

    Stearns said a number of factors have led to the increased costs,including the exterior of the parking structure, a third elevatorand increasing construction costs for steel, concrete and labor.

    Another contributing factor is that Whitefish took a uniquestrategy for constructing the new downtown facility. Instead offollowing the standard of fully designing the structures beforegoing out to bid and selecting the lowest offer, Whitefish choseits contractor — Martel Construction of Bigfork — first as a“construction manager at risk.”

    This method involves a general contractor earlier in the processand can lead to expedited construction and a better product inthe end, Stearns said.

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  • By using this method, “I think we have more control and we’regetting a better building,” he said.

    “A big incentive is you get a contractor on board earlier and costestimating is better. That may be true, but right now costestimating is coming in high for what we want,” he added.

    In late October, crews began demolishing the historic city halland embarked on a multiyear project to construct a new18,000 to 21,000squarefoot building that will includemunicipal offices, a parking garage and retail space.Construction is expected to be completed by 2017.

    In June, the council unanimously approved a $14.95 millionbudget for the project.

    Faced with the cost overruns, the city’s subcommittee isseeking to reduce $229,128 worth of proposed features. Thechanges would include eliminating an elevator ($90,000), askylight in the council chambers ($19,000), some outdoorcanopies along Baker Avenue ($53,000), and oversized brick onthe east side of the building ($7,085). It would also cut finishingthe basement storage area and locker/bathrooms ($28,013).

    The subcommittee is also seeking to borrow $162,000 from theTIF district by capitalizing on three years of lease payments fromthe retail space. The city’s realtor, Chap Godsey, said he believesthe city could rent the 3,000squarefoot space at the northwestcorner of the parking structure for $18 per square foot per year,which would result in $162,000 of revenue over three years,which would be repaid to the TIF district.

    Martel Construction also believes it can find $181,194 in savingsby altering its engineering plans without “affecting greatly thequality of the project,” Stearns said.

    Also, the city budgeted for $1 million in ancillary costs forinterim city hall costs and other expenses, and “there is probablyat least $200,000 that will not be used from that budget and canbe allocated to the design costs,” Stearns said in his memo.

    These four separate proposals would cover $772,322.

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  • Stearns said the remaining $227,687 could come fromadditional value engineering savings, other design costreductions, an increase of the budget and increased contributionfrom TIF, and a use of the 5 percent contingency or privatefundraising.

    Stearns said the council will give city staff direction at Mondaynight’s meeting.

    If the city council chooses to add money to the budget, thosefunds would most likely come from the TIF, Stearns said in hismemo.

    He added that some members of the community supportrevising the list of priority projects in the resort tax program andpay for the sidewalk and streetscape costs of the projectusing resort tax collections, but that concept has not had supportof the elected officials on the subcommittee or city staff.

    All costs of the project are paid from the accumulated savings ofthe TIF district and current year TIF appropriation, as well as afuture Tax Increment Bond, and $750,000 from the approved$880,000 Special Improvement District #167.

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