CONWAY — With a personnel matter resolved, the town will put its public safety building addition project out to bid for a second time after voting to reject the initial bids received this spring due to the scope of work changing.

The Selectboard approved an agreement this week with Highway Superintendent Ron Sweet, which will see him and other Highway Department staff conduct the excavation work for the addition that will create individual offices for the Fire, Police and Ambulance departments, as well as a shower, laundry room and conference room.

Sweet had originally committed to the excavation work, but felt in the spring he could no longer do that, which, alongside higher-than-anticipated bids, upended the bidding process due to the scope of work changing.

“Ron let us know that as long as an agreement was signed between the Selectboard and he, it was good to go,” said Town Administrator Veronique Blanchard. “They can put it out and have it ready for a bid to come back at the end of August.”

The town has set aside $311,000 of leftover money from the Highway Department’s building project and $84,695 from the sale of public lands at the 2023 Annual Town Meeting, which will supplement approximately $390,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. If the project stays within this nearly $786,000 total, then the project will be funded without additional taxpayer dollars.

Selectboard Chair Chris Waldo noted Sweet’s and the Highway Department’s work on the project will make it much cheaper and an agreement was needed because this work, which will be done using town equipment, will be conducted during off hours. Compensation for the work is not to exceed $50,000, according to the agreement.

Conway will also receive help from former Police Chief Ken Ouimette and Franklin County Technical School, which Waldo said will “significantly lower the labor cost.”

“This is basically a win-win,” Selectboard member Erica Goleman said of the agreement moving the project forward. “I have no problem with this; this is a long time coming.”

The 15 Ashfield Road building, which was built in the 1940s, was the subject of a legislative tour in 2022 that brought then-State Auditor Suzanne Bump and other legislators to Conway to explore the state of public safety complexes in western Massachusetts. The tour followed a 2021 report compiled by Bump that underscored the “critical need” for infrastructure in this region.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.