OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Public Safety 911 Center Building Committee Meeting - July 24, 2026

Common Council & CommissionsFriday, July 24, 2026
BodyMiddletown, Connecticut
SessionCommon Council & Commissions
DateFriday, July 24, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record

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Transcript — Verbatim
0:06

Thank you.

0:06

Welcome.

0:07

Good evening, everyone.

0:08

This is public safety 911 Center Building Committee meeting.

0:11

Middletown Police Department Community Room and also hybrid on WebEx.

0:16

It is July 23rd, 2026.

0:19

And they call the meeting to order at 6.07.

0:24

First on the agenda is public comments.

0:27

If there's anything on the agenda that people wish to speak to, uh please state your name, your address, and keep your comments to five minutes.

0:45

Not seeing anybody with their hand raised.

0:47

Okay, seeing no one with their hand raised.

0:50

Move on the agenda to director's report.

0:53

Sure.

0:54

Good evening, everyone.

0:55

So like we talked about uh last month, I had sent out uh letters to Mile Lane uh neighbors uh and the trees, Birchwood, Fordwood, um, just advising them of the progress.

1:09

Uh tonight we're gonna hold a special community meeting after this to give them an update of the the project, let them know where we stand as far as the schedule, and we'll go from there.

1:19

Um it's been a semi-busy month, even though I was on vacation.

1:23

Um yesterday, Matt and I met with the purchasing department to get our ducks in the row with uh Donna, making sure uh we're good to go uh when we go out to bid in hopefully September.

1:36

Um we're on the agenda for the planning and zoning commission in April on April 12th.

1:44

Um we're working with them to make sure we have everything that we need for the agenda.

1:50

Um there was a little hiccup today regarding um uh zoning text that might need to be changed for public safety facilities on that property.

1:59

But uh Merrick and the land use department is taking care of that for us.

2:03

Um working with uh the the project, we're gonna change the address for the 911 center portion of the property to the 489 mile lane just to have uh designation just for our property, so there's no issues with uh packages delivers and stuff like that.

2:22

So we're going to start in that process.

2:24

Uh Matt's gonna talk about it, but um he's planning the construction documents to be finalized by September 4th.

2:32

Um if we plan to go out to bid in September, we're probably gonna need to hold a special meeting with the committee just to confirm that uh you approved the the uh the documents and that you're okay with us going out to bid.

2:46

Um it's an aggressive timeline.

2:48

We're hoping you know it's gonna be about what six weeks for to go out to bid, and then we're hoping to get it on the uh agenda here for your approval, and then the it'll need to go in front of the council for um approval since it's a multi-year over a hundred million dollars or over not 100 million dollars, over a hundred thousand dollars.

3:07

Sorry about that.

3:08

Um, so that'll hopefully if we get our uh T's crossed and I'm snotted.

3:14

Hopefully that'll be for the November meeting.

3:17

Might have to you know schedule another special meeting with our committee to get that approved to get it on the agenda for the November meeting.

3:24

But um happy to answer any questions um that you guys might have for tonight.

3:35

I don't have any.

3:44

That is the end of my report.

3:45

Sorry about that.

3:46

Just leaving you hanging.

3:49

All right, uh next on the agenda is Tecton update.

3:51

All right, great.

3:52

Um, so generally, um I do think it'd be worth spending a little bit of time just talking about uh what Bobby was just mentioning about the schedule.

4:01

Um what does this committee need in hand in order to make recommendation to the uh to the council to authorize us to go to bid?

4:13

Uh so the council doesn't need to approve us going to bid.

4:16

They just need to approve us the count, the committee needs to approve the documents or whatever to say that we can go out to bid.

4:22

Okay, great.

4:23

The council's only there for once uh GC is selected by this committee.

4:27

Excellent.

4:28

Which what we need is a the final estimate drawings.

4:32

Final estimate drawings, and obviously uh list um bid packages that come within the 10 million dollar authorization.

4:49

And that's that's pretty much what we need.

4:51

Yeah.

4:52

Yeah, so this would be a single bid package, right?

4:55

Well, yeah, it's gonna be one bid package out there.

4:57

Yeah.

4:58

That does the whole thing.

5:00

Okay.

5:01

Do you need uh how much do you need lead time?

5:03

Are you gonna spend time reviewing the the drawings, making comments, anything like that?

5:07

Or once we deliver them, that's that's enough for you at the space.

5:12

I would say be on the safe side.

5:14

Deliver them and let the um present them at one meeting, whether it be a regular or special one.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Engineering And Infrastructure█████████████████████████████████████████████47%
Procedural█████████████████████22%
Budget Equity Analysis████████████████17%
Environmental Protection████████8%
Energy Efficiency████4%
Privacy Policy██2%
Summary of Proceedings

Public Safety 911 Center Building Committee Meeting - July 24, 2026

The Public Safety 911 Center Building Committee met on July 24, 2026 at 6:07 PM in the Middletown Police Department Community Room and via WebEx. The meeting was called to order and adjourned at 6:55 PM. Key updates included the project schedule, design development, budget, and approvals for payment and dispatch console procurement.

Director's Report

  • Director Bobby reported sending letters to Mile Lane neighbors and nearby streets about project progress. A community meeting was scheduled after this meeting.
  • Met with purchasing department to prepare for bid release, targeting September.
  • The project is on the agenda for Planning and Zoning Commission on April 12, 2026 (noted as a future date from the meeting perspective).
  • A zoning text change may be needed for public safety facilities on the property; Land Use Department is handling it.
  • The address for the 911 center portion will be changed to 489 Mile Lane to avoid delivery issues.
  • Construction documents target completion by September 4, 2026. A special committee meeting will be needed to approve documents before going to bid.

Discussion Items

  • Schedule and Bid Process: The committee discussed the timeline for finalizing bid documents. Tecton will deliver documents by September 4. The committee tentatively agreed to receive them on September 10 and vote on September 17 to authorize going out to bid, allowing two weeks for review. A special meeting will be scheduled.
  • Design Review: Tecton presented a 3D model tour of the interior design, including lobby, training room (seating 16), locker rooms, bunk rooms, fitness room, dispatch center with one-way glass for privacy, break room, mother’s room/decompression space, and offices. Changes included removing a redundant masonry sign in favor of landscaping, adding mailboxes, and reallocating a spare IT room for clean agent fire suppression tanks.
  • Budget Update: The estimated construction cost increased from $5.43 million (schematic design) to $7.7 million (design development). Total project cost (including soft costs) rose from $9.6 million to $9.99 million, still within the $10 million authorization. Soft costs were reduced by over $100,000 through refinements (e.g., removing energy modeling, reducing fitness equipment budget, obtaining better quotes for dispatch consoles). The committee discussed potential alternates for cost contingencies.
  • Energy Performance Discussion: Kat, representing the Clean Energy Task Force, requested historical energy data from the current building to benchmark the new facility. The director noted that current usage is bundled with the fire department and cannot be separated. Tecton explained that energy use intensity (EUI) metrics for dispatch centers are not well-established due to high data/IT load, but they can compare with similar facilities in other states. The committee agreed to gather available data.

Key Outcomes

  • Approval of Payment to Tekton: Motion passed unanimously to pay $68,662.50 to Tekton for work through May 31, 2026.
  • Approval to Select Dispatch Consoles: Motion passed unanimously to select dispatch consoles via the HGAC cooperative purchase agreement, which offers a 50% discount. The purchase requires only mayoral signature per the city’s purchasing ordinance.
  • Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 6:55 PM.

Meeting Transcript

Thank you. Welcome. Good evening, everyone. This is public safety 911 Center Building Committee meeting. Middletown Police Department Community Room and also hybrid on WebEx. It is July 23rd, 2026. And they call the meeting to order at 6.07. First on the agenda is public comments. If there's anything on the agenda that people wish to speak to, uh please state your name, your address, and keep your comments to five minutes. Not seeing anybody with their hand raised. Okay, seeing no one with their hand raised. Move on the agenda to director's report. Sure. Good evening, everyone. So like we talked about uh last month, I had sent out uh letters to Mile Lane uh neighbors uh and the trees, Birchwood, Fordwood, um, just advising them of the progress. Uh tonight we're gonna hold a special community meeting after this to give them an update of the the project, let them know where we stand as far as the schedule, and we'll go from there. Um it's been a semi-busy month, even though I was on vacation. Um yesterday, Matt and I met with the purchasing department to get our ducks in the row with uh Donna, making sure uh we're good to go uh when we go out to bid in hopefully September. Um we're on the agenda for the planning and zoning commission in April on April 12th. Um we're working with them to make sure we have everything that we need for the agenda. Um there was a little hiccup today regarding um uh zoning text that might need to be changed for public safety facilities on that property. But uh Merrick and the land use department is taking care of that for us. Um working with uh the the project, we're gonna change the address for the 911 center portion of the property to the 489 mile lane just to have uh designation just for our property, so there's no issues with uh packages delivers and stuff like that. So we're going to start in that process. Uh Matt's gonna talk about it, but um he's planning the construction documents to be finalized by September 4th. Um if we plan to go out to bid in September, we're probably gonna need to hold a special meeting with the committee just to confirm that uh you approved the the uh the documents and that you're okay with us going out to bid. Um it's an aggressive timeline. We're hoping you know it's gonna be about what six weeks for to go out to bid, and then we're hoping to get it on the uh agenda here for your approval, and then the it'll need to go in front of the council for um approval since it's a multi-year over a hundred million dollars or over not 100 million dollars, over a hundred thousand dollars. Sorry about that. Um, so that'll hopefully if we get our uh T's crossed and I'm snotted. Hopefully that'll be for the November meeting. Might have to you know schedule another special meeting with our committee to get that approved to get it on the agenda for the November meeting. But um happy to answer any questions um that you guys might have for tonight. I don't have any. That is the end of my report. Sorry about that. Just leaving you hanging. All right, uh next on the agenda is Tecton update. All right, great. Um, so generally, um I do think it'd be worth spending a little bit of time just talking about uh what Bobby was just mentioning about the schedule. Um what does this committee need in hand in order to make recommendation to the uh to the council to authorize us to go to bid? Uh so the council doesn't need to approve us going to bid. They just need to approve us the count, the committee needs to approve the documents or whatever to say that we can go out to bid. Okay, great. The council's only there for once uh GC is selected by this committee. Excellent. Which what we need is a the final estimate drawings. Final estimate drawings, and obviously uh list um bid packages that come within the 10 million dollar authorization. And that's that's pretty much what we need. Yeah.

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