For City Council Meeting March 10, 2026
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
APPROVAL: Tanya Williams, City Manager
FROM: Yazdan Emrani, P.E., Director of Public Works
Title
Request City Council to Authorize the Release of Bids for the Fire Station 204 Dormitory Improvements Project, City Project No. 26023.
Body
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the release of bids for the Fire Station 204 Dormitories Improvement project, City Project No. 26023.
BACKGROUND:
The fire service, in general, faces a significant gender gap, with only 7% of the firefighters in the country being women. To recruit, develop, and retain the best candidates, fire departments must develop strategies that appeal to recruits. Fire station dormitory configurations that provide privacy were identified as a strategy to attract and retain new recruits.
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION:
The Rialto Fire Department operates two stations with open dormitory layouts, separated only by partition walls and curtains, constructed in the 1990s: Fire Station 203 and Fire Station 204. The dormitory renovation project aims to reconstruct these spaces to provide individual sleeping rooms, enhancing privacy for firefighters. Work on the FS 203 dormitory is almost complete, while improvements at FS 204 are being expedited to support recruitment and retention of qualified personnel.
Staff coordinated with BOA Architecture for preparation of the construction plans, specifications and estimates per their on-call professional architectural services agreement. The project design is completed, and the project is substantially ready to bid for construction bids.
The tentative timeline for the award is as follows:
Anticipate Release of Bids to be Issued March 2026
Anticipate Award by City Council May 2026
Anticipate Start of Construction July 2026
Anticipate Construction Completion December 2026
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT:
The requested action is not a "Project" as defined by the California Envir...
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