Borough rejects measure to renew firm's contract Boro architect misjudges cost of police building project by $100K BY DANIEL HOWLEY Staff Writer EATONTOWN - Council members failed to adopt a resolution last week to renew a contract with the borough architectural firm. After appointing Kaplan, Gaunt and DeSantis Architects LLC as the borough architectural firm at the Jan. 1 reorganization meeting, council voted 3-2 at the Feb. 13 municipal meeting to reject a resolution to approve a contract with the firm. The contract calls for the firm to act as the borough architect for a period of one year to design plans for various borough construction projects. One such project includes the proposed expansion of the police headquarters building, which the architectural firm underestimated the cost of the project by $100,000, according to Republican Councilman John Schiels. "Do we really want to appoint this architect based on his recent performance?" Schiels asked at the Feb. 13 meeting. Mayor Gerald Tarantolo agreed with Schiels, but said the best course of action is to voice concerns to the firm directly. Tarantolo added that the borough should also begin to look into a potential replacement for the firm. "From a legal standpoint, you already appointed the architect as of Jan. 1," Borough Attorney Gene Anthony said at the meeting. "What you are only doing tonight is agreeing to the contract. "If all of the sudden you reject the contract and he's already been appointed, then you can be subjected to a lawsuit," Anthony added. Two Democratic council members voted in favor of approving the contract, while the three Republicans on council voted against the measure, which failed to pass with a 3-2 vote. "Understand that what you've done is appointed someone without a contract," Anthony said following the vote. "At this point in time, you are asking them to work for nothing because you have appointed [the firm] and you don't have a replacement for them. "So, guaranteed, you are going to have a problem," Anthony added. Tarantolo tasked Eatontown Business Administrator and former Eatontown Chief of Police George Jackson with talking with the architects about the recent estimate of the police expansion project. The borough has gone out to bid for the renovation project once and bids came in nearly $100,000 over the amount that the borough appropriated for the project, according to Jackson, who explained that the borough appropriated funds based on the architectural firm's estimate. "We went out to bid once and the bids came in way over what we had appropriated for the project," Jackson said. "We had bonded $180,000. "The lowest bid was $276,000," Jackson said. Kaplan, Gaunt and DeSantis Architects were first appointed as the borough architectural firm last year and the company has been involved with projects in the borough since the 1980s, according to Borough Clerk Karen Siano. Council is seeking to renovate police headquarters, located in the borough hall building on Broad Street, in an effort to better streamline operations for the 37- member police department, according to Jackson. "The police department is pressed for space and our plan is to convert the existing municipal courtroom into a locker room, conference room and reporting room," Jackson said. "[The department] is going to basically exchange places with the court," Jackson explained. Plans call for the municipal courtroom to share its space with the council meeting room in the borough hall building, according to Jackson. The three-level building contains the municipal courtroom, council meeting room and police headquarters. Plans for the police department expansion project call for the 800-squarefoot municipal courtroom, located adjacent to police headquarters, to be converted into a section of police headquarters. In order to make room for the proposed expansion, the municipal courtroom will relocate to the borough council meeting room on the building's second floor. The expansion will help police to better separate victims of crimes from suspects, according to Jackson. "The area where [the department] keeps victims is a roll-call area where officers file criminal complaints," Jackson said. "[The department] has one room to process prisoners and police have to write reports in there. "[The department] has limited space to interview witnesses and victims," he added. The borough currently has problems dealing with domestic violence cases, Jackson said, explaining that victims of domestic violence are interviewed within earshot of suspects. "[The department] has a problem isolating domestic violence victims," Jackson said. The proposed expansion project will allow police to better separate victims of domestic violence from suspects, Jackson explained.