By ROBIN SHANNON

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – St. John the Baptist council members will review two bids that were submitted Tuesday for a $1.2 million addition to the Garyville Fire station.

Director of Purchasing for St. John, Brenda Labat, said at Tuesday’s Finance Committee meeting that the two bids came from Aegis Construction of LaPlace, whose base bid came in at $1.1 million, and Olympian Builders of Metairie, who offered a $1.4 million for the construction.

Paul Oncale, the parish’s director of public works, said the addition would add another floor to the existing 1,200-square-foot building, constructed in 1959. The new floor would include administrative offices, housing and sleeping quarters, along with an area for meeting and training. Oncale said the addition would help in Garyville’s movement toward 24-hour fire coverage.

The project, which would expand the Historic West Street station to 5,600 square feet, is the last phase of a lengthy development that was put on hiatus after Hurricane Katrina because of increasing construction costs. Oncale said the fire department now has about $900,000 to go toward the building after an additional $600,000 was borrowed last month.

Garyville Fire Chief Faron Duhe said additional options, such as a parking lot and kitchen upgrades, could be placed on hold if needed. If additional money is needed for the project, he said it would be taken from the department’s operating budget.

Submission of the bids came on the same night that Parish President Nickie Monica, a former Garyville fire chief himself, presented Duhe with a proclamation honoring the department’s 50th anniversary.

Duhe said the target date for completion of the addition was originally planned for the anniversary date, which fell last week. Duhe now hopes the project gets finished by the time his term is up in 2008. Construction is expected to take about nine months.

The council, along with an architect, will review the submitted bids and make a decision on one in two weeks.