June 12--A new fire station project spearheaded by former Portland Commissioner Randy Leonard and named in his honor is $4 million over budget.
Costs have jumped from the original estimate of $7.9 million to $11.9 million, a 50 percent increase.
The city's initial budget not only underestimated the cost of rebuilding a fire station on the banks of the Willamette River but also didn't cover expenses for a related boathouse.
The costly project serves as a stark, some might say fitting conclusion to a political career both revered and reviled when Leonard retired 18 months ago.
In his 10 years at City Hall, Leonard rocked the status quo. He tried to end reserved sidewalk seating for the Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade, pushed to add fluoride to city water without a public vote and steered Water Bureau ratepayer money toward pet projects.
Now his name will carry into Portland's future with the over-budget "Commissioner Randy Leonard Fire & Rescue Station 21," slated for completion in October, three months behind schedule. The naming came as he left office.
"I don't consider it my legacy project, by any means," Leonard said in a recent interview.
"I'm not sure I want any project named after me," he added. "That's not why I worked on the projects I did."
Tragedy spotlights need
Leonard, a former firefighter, fire union leader and state legislator, proposed rebuilding a fire station at the eastern foot of the Hawthorne Bridge in 2010.
As commissioner over the Fire Bureau at the time, Leonard wanted to replace Portland's recently reopened, but seismically unsound Station 21 to improve firefighters' ability to respond to river emergencies.
A year earlier, Amanda Stott-Smith threw her 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son off the Sellwood Bridge and into the Willamette River, killing the boy.
Leonard included the fire station and two fire boats in a $72.4 million bond measure that the City Council sent for voter approval in November 2010. It narrowly won at the ballot
The bond earmarked $7.9 million to construct a "fire station and related facilities" which the city said would "provide adequate river rescue services."
Leonard, who drafted the bond measure, said the cost estimate included money for a boathouse or boathouses.
City officials and a citizen oversight committee created to monitor bond spending say it did not.
In a statement, the Office of Management & Finance and Portland Fire & Rescue said the $7.9 million was a "low confidence estimate" and officials didn't recognize the need for a boathouse until several months after the bond's approval.
What isn't in dispute: the $7.9 million budget wasn't enough.
Today, more than half of the project's cost overruns, or about $2.2 million, are directly tied to building a boathouse for two rescue boats, and related in-water work.
The firehouse cost more than expected, too. Construction costs are now nearly $6.3 million, some $1.3 million more than the $4.9 million originally budgeted.
The remaining $500,000 increase comes from temporary relocation expenses during construction, soft costs and contributions for public art.
Building on the site has been difficult, to be sure. Because the soil is unstable, crews drilled nearly two dozen 80-foot to 100-foot pilings into the ground to ensure the fire station doesn't slip into the river during an earthquake.
Leonard said the city's original pricing "woefully" underestimated that foundation work. He blamed that for busting the budget.
"It skewed everything else in the fire station project," he said.
But shoring the foundation doesn't come close to accounting for the $4 million budget increase. The total cost of pilings, soil stabilization and site work, according to the city: $1.5 million.
"The costs are what they are," Leonard said. "I don't feel bad about it. I'm glad they have other resources to fill the gap because it needs to be built correctly."
Finding the money
To make up for soaring costs, officials had to find $4 million.
They tapped $900,000 from the 2010 bond measure initially earmarked for fire trucks, a dive apparatus and project management. The city also spent $1.6 million from a 1998 fire bond measure authorizing seismic upgrades and $800,000 in federal grant funds.
Still in need of money, Portland Fire & Rescue sold nearly $700,000 in westside property originally purchased for future fire stations.
Despite the bigger budget, officials didn't get their entire wish list. Among the items cut from the project: a green roof, plaza landscaping and a second boathouse, which would have housed the historic David Campbell fireboat.
Commissioner Dan Saltzman inherited the over-budget project in June 2013, when Mayor Charlie Hales assigned him Portland Fire & Rescue. Saltzman did not respond to requests for comment.
But Saltzman did join the City Council in December 2012, at one of Leonard's final meetings, to support naming the fire station after his long-time colleague and sometimes adversary.
"It's been a real pleasure to serve with you," Saltzman told Leonard. "And this is a very appropriate honor."
-- Brad Schmidt
Copyright 2014 - The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.
