When the Brentwood firehouse was built in 2009-2010, it was without an elevator; now city officials are working on adding one. The city attorney told them in a board of aldermen meeting that the firehouse doesn’t comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act without it.
Buying property to build an elevator will cost the city close to $200,000.
Residents have asked who the general contractor and architect were for the project. The city of Brentwood provided that to 40 South following a Sunshine request.
Listed are contractors used for the Brentwood firehouse project, per the city:
- Musick Construction Co., Brentwood, MO — construction manager
- Bond and Wolf Architects, St. Louis, MO — architect
Other contractors:
- Wright Construction, St Peters, MO – a ‘prime contractor’ –Information on the project on Wright Construction’s website
- RF Meeh, Fenton, MO
- Reinhold Electric, St. Louis, MO
- OJ Laughlin Plumbing, Valley Park, MO
- Accurate Fire Protection, High Ridge, MO
Tom Wright, president of Wright Construction, said in an interview on Friday that Musick Construction was the construction manager. He said Wright was one of several ‘prime’ contractors.
Wright said that when the firehouse was bid it was over budget, so representatives of the fire district, Musick Construction and Bond Architects were looking for ways to save money, and one way was to eliminate the elevator. He said Wright wasn’t involved in that decision.
Tom Wright also forwarded the request to eliminate items from the building. The elevator is first on the list: The request
David Bradley, project manager on the job for Musick Construction, was also interviewed on Friday. He said both Musick and Wright were contracted directly to the city of Brentwood.
He said it was designed, then redesigned without the elevator by Bond Wolf Architects at the direction of city of Brentwood. He said Musick had no input on the design.
“You would have to look at the officials at that time to see where the idea came up and where it was approved. We were just following directions,” Bradley said.
“We gather the information. We consult with the owner,” he said. “The owner makes the decisions and then we make sure the contractors follow through. That was our role. Decision-making was all at the city level — or excuse me — fire department level. I don’t know how much got back to the city council or not.”
See also:
Great work getting the PR that specifically requests the contractors not to install the elevator. It seems to me like the contractors had not fault in the matter.
Can you request the signed and sealed construction documents from Brentwood? That will show you specifically which architect approved the drawings. You can then reach out to them for comment? Here’s a link to the project on the architect’s website: http://www.bondarchitectsinc.com/brentwood
It’s hard to determine if the architect should have known to inform Brentwood that not having an elevator would not meet ADA or if Brentwood should have known better considering us residents have to pay Brentwood to review any modifications we make to our building.
So Brentwoodian… nobody knows who did what, when they did it or why.
So the city was not the general contractor as one of the alderman claimed. Why were they defending the real general????? Or was the alderman uninformed
Contact the guy whose name is carved on the front of the building. See what he has to say about it.
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