Jul 26, 2007 By Josh Krysak 2 min read

Uniontown officials moved one step closer Wednesday to beginning renovations on a vacant building proposed for a new police station. City Council accepted two separate bid proposals for work needed at 45-51 E. Penn St. contingent on review by city engineers and the council solicitor.

By two votes of 3 to 1, councilmen Bob Cerjanic and Gary Crozier, along with Mayor James Sileo, voted to award contracts for roofing work at the building and for renovations to the heating, ventilation, and plumbing and electrical systems.

Council awarded a $110,000 contract for the heating, ventilation, plumbing and mechanical work at the building to Matthew Kell of Uniontown.

Additionally, council awarded a $40,389 contract to Burns and Scalo of Pittsburgh for roof repairs that are needed on the building.

Councilman Joseph Giachetti voted against both measures, citing too much of a discrepancy between Kell’s bid and other bids received, which ran about $100,000 higher on average.

However, Cerjanic said that with the provision of review by the city engineer and solicitor, the bids should be accepted so the project could move forward.

Council had rejected several bids on the project in June after proposals exceeded money budgeted by council for the needed upgrades.

The police department has been sharing the city’s public safety building with the Uniontown Fire Department for the last 11 years.

In recent years, the police have started to run out of storage space for evidence at the public safety building and have no space for offices and file storage.

Council bought the building for the proposed new station in 2005 for $165,000.

Officials are also working to obtain an adjacent home at 43 Penn St., which would be demolished to allow for a parking lot for the proposed station.