Tinton Falls OKs $20K for parking lot contract
BY LINDA DeNICOLA
Staff Writer

CHRIS KELLY staff The police department wing of the new Tinton Falls borough hall now has steel supports in place.

TINTON FALLS - In the grand scheme of things relating to the $9.5 million new municipal building, an additional $20,000 is insignificant. However, it still raised a few questions during the Borough Council meeting last week.

The resolution authorizing the no-bid engineering services contract not to exceed $19,650 for the new municipal complex entrance and parking lot improvements was approved after council members were convinced that it is cheaper to have the borough's engineering firm, Birdsall Engineering Inc., do the job.

Some council members questioned the advisability of not going out for bid, but Bryan Dempsey, borough administrator, said the borough would save money by not going out to bid because Birdsall, which is the contracted overseer on the project, already knows the project and what the contract stipulates.

In addition, Dempsey said, it is important to have the pavement down before the winter.

William Birdsall presented a report on the borough hall construction. He said there was clean fill in the parking lot and the contractor is ready to stake out for curbing.

He reported that the condenser for the HVAC system is on order and the building's generator is due to be delivered on Sept. 7.

The construction project has been riddled with problems, so he added that there had been no hitches in the last week and they are still looking for a January completion, barring anything

unforeseen, especially bad weather.

On Monday, Birdsall explained that the administration building is framed and ready for siding and the steel frames are up for both wings - the administration and police department wings - which are both two stories. There is also a one-story center area that will contain the courtroom.

They are working on one wing at a time so that they can stage the subcontractors. Now that the sheathing is up on one building, the carpenters are starting to put the roof rafters on the police wing, he said.

Once the roofing paper and sheathing paper is on, the work proceeds quickly because the buildings become relatively waterproof and the work inside can proceed, he said, adding, "Once the windows go in, it will start to really take form."

Birdsall, who took over the project about half way through the process, said he is very pleased with the builder, GP Parlamas of Allenhurst.

Parlamas is the builder who won the contract that, at the time, came to $8.9 million. The Red Bank architectural firm of Kaplan Gaunt DeSantis designed the building.