91ÊÓƵ

West Linn has selected Todd Construction Inc. to build a new police station on the condition that the Tigard-based company pares down the cost.

Although Todd Construction’s $5.4 million bid was the lowest, it was still above the city’s $5.25 million budget for the project, said Robert Galante, project manager with the city of West Linn.

West Linn city councilors unanimously agreed Monday to hire Todd Construction and Galante said the city will work with the contractor and architecture firm Mackenzie, which has a Portland office, on shaving an extra $150,000 off the project cost. Where the cuts will be made hasn’t been determined, he said.

“We don’t know what will be done,” Galante said. “(Todd Construction) told us they would be able to reduce it by the $150,000 so they could meet that $5.25 million.”

Construction was originally slated to begin in late June, but the project was put on hold after five contractor bids the city received were over budget, he said.

The city asked Mackenzie to redraft the project and eight contractors bid on the redesign, Galante said.

“The bids were quite a bit less, but not exactly where we needed to be,” he said.

Since Todd Construction has agreed to build the police station for $5.25 million, Galante said he expects the project to break ground in two weeks.

Andrew Turner, a project manager with Todd Construction, said subcontractor bids for the project were due last week.

West Linn’s current police station, on Willamette Falls Drive, was built in 1936 and cannot expand out because the city only owns the building footprint and no surrounding land.

Voters approved an $8.5 million bond in 2011 to build a new police station on Eighth Avenue.