Fixes adding up for taxpayers at Santa Rosa’s new $4 million fire station

Santa Rosa took another step toward fixing the accessibility problems at the new $4 million Fountaingrove fire station, but it still hasn’t explained who was responsible for the fiasco.

The City Council on Tuesday signed off on the second change order for the project, this one approving an additional $123,409 for a variety of repairs meant to bring the new Station 5 into compliance with laws governing access for disabled people.

When combined with a previous $60,000 change order to renovate the kitchen, the total bill to fix the problem - excluding the significant cost of staff time - stands at just over $183,000. That brings the total cost of the contract with the builder of the new station, GCCI, Inc., to $3.4 million.

The first change was covered by the existing project funds, but the second needed a special vote of the council, which moved over $150,000 in Measure O public safety funds to cover the cost Tuesday.

The use of taxpayer funds to fix the problems made Councilman Chris Coursey wonder whether that meant the city assumed responsibility for the errors.

City Manager Sean McGlynn, however, said no such conclusion has been reached. The focus to date has been on getting the station fully operational, he said. The nine firefighters who work out of the new station began using it in late August. Before that, the completed station sat vacant for four months.

“We are continuing to look at issues of accountability and responsibility surrounding the project,” McGlynn said.

He said he expected to give the council a full report on the issue within 30 days.

He did say, however, that in the future all city buildings need to be designed and constructed with accessibility for all current and future users in mind.

“I do not know what the future uses of any particular building will be, especially in circumstances where we have to mobilize a facility around emergencies,” McGlynn said.

The latest changes range from new French doors in the workout room, at a cost of about $37,000, to lowering bookshelves in the day room by an inch.

The high-profile blunder has been particularly embarrassing because it occurred as the city continues to improve the accessibility of its facilities following a 2009 settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice calling for it to fix more than 100 violations of the federal Americans With Disabilities Act.

How the city came to build a fire station that didn’t comply with the ADA, even as it spent $6 million over the past five years to ensure existing facilities did, still is a mystery.

One explanation has been that the law changed between the time the station was originally designed and when it was built in 2013. Another has been that fire officials and the project’s architect felt partial accessibility would suffice because the building was only going to be used by able-bodied firefighters and not accessible to the general public.

“I look forward to seeing your report … as to how this happened,” Councilman Gary Wysocky told McGlynn.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @srcitybeat.