Primarily using remaining funds from previous firehouse capital projects, the ramp at the Westbrook Fire Station at 18 South Main Street will be replaced with one that meets Americans with Disability Act (ADA) standards. The ramp is expected to be complete by the end of May, as long as the weather cooperates.

“The current ramp was put in 40-plus years ago and the surface... was all cracked and the brick lamination was coming off. It was getting to a point where it had to be either expensively repaired or replaced,” explained Lester Scott, a 53-year volunteer fireman in Westbrook who now focuses on firehouse maintenance projects.

Scott and Westbrook Department of Public Works (DPW) Director John Riggio worked together on organizing the ramp replacement.

It was an insurance company inspection that alerted Scott and Riggio to the fact that the replacement ramp would have to be ADA compliant. The project first went to bid last fall, but that decision turned out to be problematic, Scott explained.

“Many of the contractors were trying to finish up their outside work before winter,” he said.

The town received one bid; its cost exceeded the funds available and was rejected. The request for bids was re-issued on March 1.

While the Board of Selectman at its March 28 meeting awarded the contract to Meco, Inc., it was discovered that the lowest bidder was not Meco, but Over the Top Lifting, and the contract was re-awarded.

Meco “could not have been more understanding and professional” about the error, said Westbrook First Selectman Noel Bishop.

In addition to the ramp itself, the railings must be ADA compliant; these will be constructed by the DPW. The estimated $8,000 cost for DPW to construct them—an additional sum that will require approval by the Board of Finance and the public—is far less than the bids the town received for the work; those ranged from $17,000 to $30,000, according to Scott. The DPW also saved the town money by doing the demolition work, he said.

Scott had requested aluminum railings, which would have required less maintenance, but the cost for aluminum was prohibitive and the DPW doesn’t have the equipment to construct them with that material. Instead, the railings will be constructed with steel.

“We’ll have to paint them more often,” Scott said.