Bellingham Police Department will receive nearly $1 million to upgrade the security of its Grand Avenue headquarters, following approval by the city council on Monday.
Funds will be moved from the police department’s 2021–22 budget to the 2023–24 budget to cover the cost of the upgrades, city Public Works Director Eric Johnston said.
The developments, set to begin this spring, include installing automatic gates around the facility and putting roller guards and concertina wire atop all fencing, gates and walls.
The 6-foot chain link fence around the perimeter will be replaced with an 8-foot mini-mesh chain link fence, and the 6-foot courtyard stucco wall will be replaced with an 8-foot corrugated metal panel wall.
The police department deemed the upgrades “necessary” in a staff memo to the city council.
On Nov. 29, three contracting companies made public bids for rights to the project.
Johnston recommended awarding the bid to the Colacurcio Brothers Inc. of Blaine — the lowest bidder with a price of $932,099, compared to the $875,000 engineer estimate from the city.
“I note that this was a rebid. When this first came through, the bids were higher than we expected, and the scope of the project was changed to make it more affordable,” council member Michael Lilliquist said in Monday’s meeting.
