The renovation of Zephyrhills Fire Station 2 already is hundreds of thousands of dollars over budget and months behind schedule. And it seems city officials have had enough.
The city council has set a special meeting for Tuesday where it’s possible Pillar Construction LLC as well as Canerday Belfsky Arroyo Architects are fired.
City attorney Joe Poblick informed the companies of the impending decision Aug. 14 in an email to Pillar project manager Kevin Boutros, as well as architects Leo Arroyo and Richard Belfsky. The move came after a series of emails between the city and Boutros where both sides disagreed not only on when the long-delayed project was projected to be completed, but how much it would cost as well.
Pillar and Canerday were awarded the big in 2013 for $1.03 million, and for work to be complete by July 3. In May, however, both came to the city council and shared complications in the renovation work, including some shoddy construction that had taken place at the fire station, which is located next to city hall in downtown Zephyrhills, over the years. They first asked for another 36 days to complete the work, but then adjusted that to double the original time, moving the completion date to Jan. 11, according to city documents.
Those changes include more than $263,000 in additional expenses, bringing the total project cost to $1.3 million — nearly 30 percent higher than originally planned.
City public works director Shane LeBlanc cut the cost of changes down to $207,000, rejecting requests for additional money for electrical work, bracing, and structural work. The city also demanded that most of the work be done ahead of Christmas, but Boutros made it clear in an email that it would be nearly three weeks later, by Jan. 11.
City officials are asking the council to demand Pillar accept the lower amount and the shorter construction time, or terminate the contact. The council will have to make that decision during the special meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. in Zephyrhills City Hall, 5335 Eighth St.
