Why did ALPUC need an office building?

The “low bid” contract $305,815 for construction of the ALPUC office building, parking lot, etc… was a topic of conversation at Alpine Lake for some time. After all, the building's total area is less than 1200 square feet. Here are some reasons the building was so costly:

Ø The cost included the paved parking lot and sidewalk out front and a small parking area to be completed behind the building for employees' personal vehicle. That lot was deleted from the plans.

Ø The building was required by law to be completed to commercial standards and to meet ADA requirements. Commercial construction standards are more stringent than residential standards and are correspondingly more expensive.

Ø The building costs include some built-in furniture.

Ø Most critically, the building contractor was covered by the federal Davis-Bacon requirements which obligated him to pay his employees what are classed as "prevailing wages". These wage levels are generally much higher than the wages familiar to us in the Terra Alta area, and they add considerably to building costs.

If you're thinking the office building could possibly have been built more cheaply, you could be right, though probably it would not have had the same levels of security, fire protection or general longevity. But the larger issue is financing. Forty year financing at 4.25% interest is not available for commercial construction anywhere other than through the US government. USDA Rural Utilities Service representatives said they do not fund “cheap junk”.

Why did ALPUC need a new office building in the first place?

Ø With the business office where it was, adequately managing ALPUC's business affairs and field operations didn't work.

Ø The temperature in ALPUC's old third floor office in the lodge, where ALPUC was paying $250 per month rent, often exceeded 100 degrees by afternoon in summer, and there was no way to air condition the space without rehabilitation, the long term sensibility of which was questionable.

Ø The third floor office was WAY too small. The bathtub was full of stored records to shoulder height; we couldn't get files out of the drawers, and there was no room for more file cabinets, or for folding chair storage, and Board members had to stand up to hold a meeting there to discuss, for example, deteriorating finances. The old furniture was falling apart.

Ø ALPUC's field crew needed a working shower to eliminate filth from water and sewer work, to avoid contaminating their personal vehicles.

Ø Regulatory authorities considered the old ALPUC office inaccessible to customers and had been voicing that criticism for years.