Moncton has awarded a Quebec firm the contract to build a $57.1 million Codiac Regional RCMP station in the city’s downtown.

Councillors voted 7-4 on Monday evening to award the construction contract to Pomerleau Inc., the lowest of five bidders at $46,965,511.25. Other bids ranged from $48 million to $52.9 million. Councillors Shawn Crossman, Daniel Bourgeois, Bryan Butler and Paul Richard voted against the motion.

With the purchase of land, design work, equipment and a $2 million contingency fund, the project is expected to cost $57,177,130. That’s down from $57.2 million the city estimated last fall.

The vote ends a nearly decade-long debate and planning process to replace Codiac RCMP’s Main Street office considered unsafe and unsuitable for continued use. 

Moncton Mayor Dawn Arnold called it a historic night.

“I’m thankful that we actually had the last ten months to really invest in making sure that we had our tender package as tight as possible and we certainly saw the results of that tonight with a bid coming in under what we had expected,” Arnold said in an interview. 

Last year as the estimated cost continued to climb, the city pushed a decision back until after the 2021 municipal election and looked for ways to cut the price.

Pomerleau’s winning bid was about $515,000 cheaper than the city’s final estimate for the cost of construction.

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