Greensburg hires contractors for new public works garage

Work is nearly ready to begin on Greensburg’s new public works garage, and city officials hope to move in by this fall.

By then, it will have been about two years since the fire that destroyed the city’s old garage.

“It’ll be two years in October from when the fire happened,” said Public Works Director Tom Bell. “We’re shooting for the end of September to have completion of the building. Hopefully, we can get it started in March.”

City council this week hired the contractors for the work. Construction of the 12,960-square-foot structure will cost more than $1.7 million.

The city will pay about $1.5 million to C. Tucker Cope & Associates of Columbiana, Ohio, for general construction; $69,800 to K and K Mechanical Services of Zelienople for heating, ventilating and air conditioning; and $209,975 to Whitby Plumbing of Uniontown for plumbing.

Most of the cost will be covered by the city’s insurance. The exact amount to be paid by insurance has yet to be finalized, according to the city.

Greensburg previously paid $119,500 to Civil & Environmental Consultants Inc. of Robinson Township for design work. Insurance covered $89,500 of that expense.

Construction timelines are always shaky, even more so during a pandemic that has wreaked havoc on supply lines. Construction material has been hard to come by, but Bell said he’s hopeful C. Tucker Cope & Associates will be able to complete the work by autumn.

“Since the pandemic, steel is troublesome to get, but we’re hopeful that they have it, or have ways of getting it.”

The October 2019 fire, which started in the city’s street sweeper, destroyed the sweeper, three dump trucks, a front loader, skid steer and pump truck in addition to the garage. All damaged equipment has been either replaced or repaired.

The city is storing most of its public works fleet at a Clark Street building it is leasing from Stone & Co.