WATERVILLE — City councilors on Tuesday said they weren’t ready to award a contract to an architectural firm that is to help the city identify a site for and design a police station.

A special committee working on the police station issue met Monday and opened bids from three architectural firms. The panel was to have recommended a firm to councilors.

“The committee did not reach a consensus on an architect, so we need to table this until the next meeting,” said Council Chairman Charles “Fred” Stubbert, Jr., D-Ward 1.

The next council meeting is scheduled for Nov. 15. The three firms that submitted proposals are WBRC, of Bangor; TFH, of Portland; and Port City Architecture, also of Portland.

City Manager Michael Roy said when the proposals were opened Monday, committee members had concerns about what they included and didn’t include.

The police committee will meet again at 4:30 p.m. Monday in the mayor’s conference room at City Hall to continue reviewing the firms’ bids, Roy said.

“I hope that we can make the decision next Monday night, the seventh,” he said.

The committee then would recommend a firm to councilors.

Councilors earlier this year voted to spend $2.5 million for a police station to replace the station in the basement of City Hall. City officials say the station is cramped, inadequate and antiquated.

The three sites being considered for a new station are a parking lot at Head of Falls off Front Street, land owned by Hight Partners on Colby Street and the Morning Sentinel building on Front Street.

In other matters Tuesday, councilors took a first of three needed votes to vacate part of Hughey Street, which is a proposed but unaccepted way.

Councilors Erik Thomas, D-Ward 4, and Eliza Mathias, D-Ward 6, were absent from Tuesday’s meeting.

Councilors voted 5-0 to accept a $3,822 grant for bullet-proof vests for police and $3,500 for overtime pay for officers who will conduct OUI enforcement activities during the holidays.

Roy said a planning group for Robert LaFleur Municipal Airport will meet at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the council chambers, where an airport master plan will be unveiled.

He also reported that City Clerk Arlene Strahan plans to retire Jan. 6.

“We’re certainly going to miss Arlene, and this won’t be the final hurrah,” he said. “Believe me, all of us city employees wish she would be staying longer.”

He said Grove Street has been paved and the final touches on the street will be completed before winter. The city is still working on a sidewalk plan for the street, he said.

“That’s going to happen, but not this fall,” he said.

Amy Calder — 861-9247
acalder@centralmaine.com

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