Work has begun on a new highway maintenance garage in the village of Celoron. The previous structure, damaged in an August 2021 fire, was recently demolished. P-J photo by Eric Tichy

CELORON — Work has begun on a new village Department of Public Works building.

Crews with Kinley Contractors out of Allegany in Cattaraugus County began preliminary construction at the Gifford Avenue site during the second week of October. Work on the new structure’s foundation is currently taking place.

Once complete, the new DPW building will be slightly bigger than the one it will replace.

Celoron received three bids for general construction of the new facility. At a special meeting in July, the Celoron Village Board approved a resolution accepting the bid by Kinley Contractors for $793,000.

At the same meeting, the board accepted a bid of $137,507 from Citadel Services Inc. to handle heating, ventilation and air conditioning; a $80,250 bid by Ahlstrom Schaeffer Electric Corp. for electrical work; and a $102,564 bid by Ciancio Mechanical Inc. for plumbing work.

Celoron twice sought bids for general construction of the new facility. The first time around, Mayor Scott Schrecengost said, costs came in at between $1.3 million and $1.5 million, which was much higher than what the village had expected.

“It wasn’t so much COVID that hurt us, it’s that the timing of our building burning down was when all the hurricanes hit down south,” the mayor said over the summer.

Further complicating matters was Celoron’s insurance provider, which felt the highway garage was not completely destroyed because it was still standing.

Schrecengost said the insurance company wanted the village to find a contractor who might be able to repair the steel structure. Though officials found a contractor from Pittsburgh who was willing to come up to Celoron and even provide an estimate, the company declined to take on the project.

“After all that, sitting on it for a year and a half, I went back to the insurance company and told them, ‘Look, we’re not trying to make money off this deal. I just want a garage replaced so we can get our equipment put away.’ There’s no reason for this,” Schrecengost said.

With a slightly modified building design to keep costs down, Schrecengost believed the bids would come in lower. “Now I think we’re at the point where we’ll be able to afford the new garage,” he said.

Schrecengost previously told The Post-Journal that he believed the village was finally on a path toward demolishing the damaged garage and having a new structure built in its place.

In September, the Village Board voted to accept a bid by R. Patti Concrete Excavating to demolish the structure. R. Patti’s bid was for $34,900.