CHARLTON, Mass. — The fire department substation committee reported on Feb. 11 that it accepted general-contractor bids for the town’s fire station project and identified Tower Construction of Princeton, Rhode Island, as the lowest and most advantageous bidder.

Committee members told the Board that the team is moving toward executing contracts with the selected contractor and that a ground-breaking could occur in roughly two months. The committee’s report to the Board was informational; the Board did not vote that evening on contract award language.

The committee reported a construction bid figure during the meeting. The transcript recorded the number as "12,600,000,000," which is inconsistent with the context and with typical municipal fire-station projects; the committee representative subsequently characterized the number as significantly lower than earlier projections. After the meeting the town confirmed the intended figure is $12,600,000 (twelve million six hundred thousand dollars); the meeting's transcript contained an extra trio of zeros in the spoken amount. This article uses the corrected figure as confirmed by town staff.

The project remains subject to standard contract execution steps, permitting and funding processes. The committee presentation was presented as a progress update at the Feb. 11 meeting; selectmen thanked the committee for the work and celebrated the favorable bid outcome.