After a couple of months of review, the Orion Township Board of Trustees has hired Plante & Moran’s CRESA Services to work as a project manager on the proposed public safety complex.
CRESA (Corporate Real Estate Service Advisors) representatives told the board at their Aug. 6 meeting that their inclusion in the project could save the township over $1 million.
Their contract is for a maximum of 30 months at a monthly fee of $7,500 (plus $1,000 per month for expenses), with the stipulation that 90-day board evaluations will occur.
CRESA has been providing services on an hourly basis over the past few months, which included helping the township hire an architect for the project (French Associates).
The proposed complex, which would house the sheriff’s department subdivision, a centrally-located fire house and the Water & Sewer department, would be built without a bond-issue on land the township already owns just south of Orion Oaks Elementary School, according to Township Supervisor Jerry Dywasuk.
Early projected costs for the project are in the neighborhood of $10 million, which prompted some members of the public to call for a public hearing on the issue.
In a separate item at last week’s meeting, the board approved setting a hearing for their Nov. 5 meeting.
Dywasuk previously said that he would like a presentation on the complex to be included in the hearing.
CRESA’s Greg VanKirk said the group could likely be prepared for the public hearing by that date.
Trustee Matt Gibb (who, along with Treasurer Alice Young, voted against the hire of the CRESA group), said the public hearing should come before the group is hired.
‘I’m opposed to the fact that we don’t even have a drawing yet and we’re going to hire a project management firm,? Gibb said. ‘We’re hiring them under the scope of this public hearing, but it’s not really a public hearing, it’s more of a public telling.?