Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette Andrew Kemper, engineering and project manager with Moyle Construction, spoke with the Laurium Village Council regarding replacement of the DPW building Tuesday.

LAURIUM – The Village Council Tuesday approved an agreement with Moyle Construction for the replacement of Laurium’s Department of Public Works (DPW) building that was destroyed by fire in February.

Last March, the Village Council unanimously approved a motion by Pro Tempore Jeff Erickson, seconded by Trustee John Galbraith, to accept an initial proposal from Moyle Construction regarding the new Department of Public Works facility.

Village Manager Ian Lewis said Laurium officials had met with representatives from Moyle Construction the previous week to discuss the construction of the new facility. “We wanted to just get some expertise on it, because none of us have expertise on constructing a new building from the ground up,” Lewis said. He said the insurance adjuster’s rate was approximately $1.5 million, which seemed incredibly low for a building of that size. The former DPW facility was approximately 99,000 square feet.

During the March meeting, Moyle representatives said they were confident the company could assist the village in achieving a higher insurance settlement. Andrew Kemper, engineering and project manager with Moyle Construction, said his company has extensive experience in dealing with insurance casualties such as what Laurium experienced. “One of the things that we can do to work with you guys,” Kemper said, “is help represent you in your capacity with the insurance company to make sure that there is an equitable payment, to make sure that you are going to have the full funds that are going to be necessary to build another facility that the community will benefit from for the next hundred plus years.”

Moyle would also provide any engineering estimates, pre-construction services necessary – at no cost to the village — up to the point that “we get an understanding and agreement from the insurance carrier that the village will be equitably funded.

Kemper was present at Tuesday’s meeting and addressed the councl. “We were able to work with the carrier on your behalf,” said Kemper. “It sounds like they’ve approved roughly $3,628,000 to be wired to the village for replacement value of your DPW building.”

Kemper said Moyle is looking forward to partnering with the village for a new facility that will last for generations. “The initial offer that was $1.5 million would have been probably a building that would have lasted a generation or so and would have barely, if anything, met your needs in the short term,” Kemper said. “With the funds we were able to get from your carrier, we should really be able to build you guys a facility that’s, like I said, going to suit your needs now and into the future, and should be in the area for generations.”

With that, Kemper said, he sent Village Manager Ian Lewis a design/build contract for entering into an agreement for construction of a new DPW facility.

“Our intent would be that would put every dollar that we can of that $3.28 million into the new facility. We’ll work through the engineering and design process with the village in a transparent manner so you can see exactly what you’r paying for, and every dollar is being spent in the best interest of the community and we will basically maximize the return on each dollar to get you guys the most possible we can squeeze out of that dollar.”

Lewis praised Moyle’s working on the village’s behalf. “We only had $1.5 million, we had no way of paying for anyone to help us try and fight on our behalf. I don’t have any expertise when it comes to buildings, so I couldn’t have done what they did. They helped us increase it by over $2.1 million – that’s a huge win. They helped us get this done since the fire happened in February. In four and a half months, we have now finalized all aspects of this project, so I think Moyle’s done a phenomenal job for us in terms of building, and now we can all just take a sigh of relief.”

Erickson thanked Kemper. “I’d like to say thank you, Andrew, for everything you guys have done. It was great. You were timely and you brought back far more than I expected. We can move into the design phase now.”