Cecil and Williamstown fire companies near possible renovation, replacement
Monroe Township has two firehouses — Cecil Fire Company on Whitehall Road and Williamstown Fire Company on Main Street. Both companies are in dire need of an upgrade when it comes to the structure of the buildings.
The Cecil firehouse is in need of a new roof, while the Williamstown firehouse hasn’t been upgraded since it was built in the 1970s, Councilman Joe Marino said.
Township council has a committee in place to begin the lengthy process of renovating and/or replacing the two firehouses. The committee is headed by Marino and includes Councilman Bob Heffner, Councilman Ron Garbowski, Joe Kurt and Corky Meade from Williamstown Fire Company, Chief Jim Solomon and Deputy Chief Bruce Chandler from Cecil Fire Company, Solicitor Lou Cappelli and Business Administrator Kevin Hydel.
Marino said the effort to upgrade the two firehouses was in motion before he was elected to council in 2017.
“The ball started rolling in 2017 when we advertised the first RFP (request for proposal),” he said. “We re-advertised it in 2018 and it was due this past May.”
The committee received six bid packets from architectural firms. After a meeting, they narrowed it down to three. Those three companies received a chance to interview with the committee.
The three companies that received an interview are Rodier Ebersberger Architecture, LLC, Robbie Conley Architect, LLC, and Design Collaborative. After the interview process, the committee decided to move forward with the following solution: Robbie Conley Architect, LLC will design Cecil, and Rodier Ebersberger Architecture, LLC will design the Williamstown firehouse. Marino said, on behalf of the committee, that they were looking for companies with prior experience with firehouses, and Robbie Conley Architect, LLC and Rodier Ebersberger Architecture, LLC fit the bill.
Now that there are architects in place, the next step is the conceptual design phase. This is where the architects will draw up a design for the firehouse and send out a request for proposal to receive bids from contractors and construction companies to perform the renovations and potential rebuilds.
Marino believes the conceptual phase won’t be finished this year, which means the bidding process will happen early next year. He expects construction to occur as early as next spring.
