3 days Ago By CHRISTINE COMPTON [email protected]
After an infamously uneventful 2023 season, Montana’s Dick Anderson Construction put in a bid to restore Helena’s iconic fire tower for around $165,000 more than the previous contractor. “These projects don’t come around everyday,” DAC project manager Tim Tholt said. “It’s an important project, and we’re looking forward to getting it done right.
” The Dick Anderson Construction bid was for $385,800, Tholt said. The previous estimate by another contractor last year was $220,000, Although the exact schedule isn’t yet nailed down, the bid is expected to be presented to city commissioners Sept. 23, city spokesman Jacob Garcin said via email.
The fire tower, originally built in 1874 and nicknamed “Guardian of the Gulch,” is an unofficial mascot for Montana’s capital, its silhouette appearing on logos and merchandise citywide. When it was damaged by arson in 2016, there was concern about how it would be repaired. Tearing down and rebuilding the tower with stronger material saw vehement rejection from local historians and citizens alike.
Replacing the damaged wood isn’t an easy option either. Due to its exacting wood, construction style and historic significance, it needs an expert hand to repair without losing its protected status per the National Register of Historic Places. According to city documents, only one bid to repair the fire tower was received this season, which was Dick Anderson Construction.
DAC has worked on delicate projects like this before, Tholt said. It’s regularly worked with state buildings and works in Yellowstone National Park, so the specifics of the National Register of Historic Places aren’t new. Although Dick Anderson Construction was the only bidder this season, in 2023 fire tower renovations were bid on by Vermont-based Porter & Associates Architectural Conservation.
However, the details of how and when the tower would be repaired between Doug Porter of Porter & Associates and the city. Each claimed the other was uncommunicative and acting in poor faith, and the deal dissolved before any work could get done. DAC may have also put a bid in last year, but the project just didn’t fit into its schedule, Tholt said.
Although the current bid is good news, Tom O’Connell, a former member of Helena’s Heritage Tourism Council and longtime advocate for the fire tower, said last year’s failed season gives him doubts. He believes last year’s contract could have been salvaged and a lot of momentum was needlessly lost. Between that and the far steeper cost on an already tight project, O’Connell isn’t sure the City Commission will approve the new bid.
Last year, the city committed $150,000 to the cause. “I’m going to hope this project goes well, but I just don’t have the confidence,” he said..
