The city of Jamestown’s new fleet maintenance garage on Washington Street is about 90% complete, Jeff Lehman, project manager, said Monday. P-J photo by Eric Tichy

Jamestown’s new fleet maintenance building on Washington Street is about 90% complete.

Jeff Lehman, project manager and former city public works director, offered an update on the multimillion dollar project Monday to the City Council. His remarks followed recent comments by Councilman Randy Daversa, R-At Large, who noted that expenses on the new central garage were more than originally anticipated.

Lehman provided a timeline on the fleet maintenance project, which has been in the works for more than three years. The original budget came in at about $5.3 million, which included $400,000 toward the purchase of the former Hartley car dealership on Washington and nearly $2.5 million for new construction at the site.

The city had applied for a $500,000 grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to make the building all electric. The city was not awarded the grant, so the plan again calls for the use of gas.

In February 2020, the city hired an architectural firm for a new fleet maintenance facility on Crescent Street. The site was later deemed too small to “meet the city’s needs,” and sights turned to the former car dealership on Washington.

In November 2020, the state approved the city’s concept for a new facility that called for renovating the existing structure on site and for a 80-foot-by-75-foot addition.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist said the 2019 Smart Cities bond had the Washington Street project at about $5 million. “I just worked with a contractor to put a deck on my house. When I got the quote in 2020 versus now, I’m crying looking at the numbers,” Sundquist said. “Unfortunately, it’s gone up tremendously, but not too far from the original 2019 estimate. And that was a new build at the time.”

Lehman provided City Council members with updated project costs. With remaining work figured in, the cost is $389,000 over the original budget.

Sundquist has previously touted the benefits of renovating the soon-to-be new facility over constructing one from the ground up at a potential cost of $10 million. In June 2021, when the City Council approved the purchase of the site at 1425-1505 Washington, he noted that the state had committed a $1 million grant for a new central garage.

Even in 2021, the mayor alluded to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on construction projects.

On Monday, Lehman expounded on the pandemic’s impact.

“As you recall, when these bids came in, the price of everything during COVID was up 20 to 30 percent,” he said. “We discussed that at the time — availability of product and that kind of thing. So, obviously, our prices were going to be up.”

Lehman said there are a “slew” of materials still on back order. “We’re not anticipating seeing them until October,” he said. “The building is up and running. We’re using the old electrical service, but we’re not able to run everything we need to.”

At present, there is an estimated $577,000 in remaining work. That includes $60,000 for a fence, $100,000 for parking lot repairs, $170,000 for equipment lifts and $150,000 for a crane.

The city has not yet bonded for $4 million toward the cost of the project.

“We’ve only bonded for what we’ve needed so far,” Sundquist said. “So, what we’re asking for you all is to bond for the remainder of that $4 million and then the additional amount that Jeff was asking for.”

In other news:

¯ Sundquist remarked on the ongoing conversion of Washington Street in a project by the state Department of Transportation. He said while many of the lines have been painted, the project is not yet finished.

“There is some additional striping and things that need to be completed,” he said. “We also want to remind folks that they did reduce the lanes, so slow down, which has been a big issue. As I’ve been going down Washington Street, I still see people driving like they used to play Mario Kart and zoom down there. We do want to encourage residents to slow down.”

¯ Sundquist said the city has announced its yearly streets program — a list of ongoing and planned road projects.

“Streets are in full force,” the mayor said. “You may have seen a lot of our crews out there as well as some of the contracted crews. They’re out there doing the streets. If there is anything that you notice along the way, please let us know so that we can try to work on those issues as they’re doing the streets.”

¯ Melissa Paterniti thanked those who supported efforts to have a bench and picnic table placed in Dow Park in honor of Alexis “Lexy” Hughan. “I would just like to thank everybody for coming Saturday to the dedication of the bench and the picnic table,” she said. “It was a great turnout.”

The Dow Park memorial in honor of Hughan, who was killed in an accident on New Year’s Eve in 2021, was first proposed to City Council members by Paterniti in December 2022. Earlier this year, Paterniti organized a fundraiser that brought in $5,072 for the items.

“It was great to see the community coming together,” she said Monday.