Ledyard — Members of the Permanent Municipal Building Committee on Monday took multiple steps that should clear the way for a mid-August ground breaking at the new police facility.

First, they unanimously authorized Mayor John Rodolico to enter into a contract with Hartford-based CREC Construction Services for clerk of the works services. During construction, the clerk does his or her best to ensure work on the site follows existing drawings.

According to the nonprofit organization's proposal, five employees of varying experience would spend about 1,780 hours on the project. Proposed clerk of the works Michael Faenza would account for 1,218 of those hours, averaging about 20 hours a week at $90 per hour.

CREC also included 140 hours of administrative support in its estimate — a depth in oversight that Committee Chairman Steve Juskiewicz said set it apart from other companies.

CREC, or Capitol Region Education Council, has existed since 1966 and has had a role in the construction of several education-related buildings.

That its focus has been on educational buildings, Juskiewicz said, should not be a huge deal because many commercial buildings have similar attributes.

"It just appeared to me that the clerk (for CREC) is better qualified," he said, noting that Faenza has worked on a college campus police station renovation in the past. "So in the end, when all bets are equal, I'm going with the more qualified clerk to say, 'Something's not right here.'"

The committee received six proposals for the job, with costs ranging from Stephen Shuttleworth's $94,020 to The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co.'s $262,708. CREC's fell near the middle, at $137,620.

Before discussing all six, Juskiewicz reminded the committee that it should pay attention to cost, but that its goal was to "choose the contract we feel is in the town's best interest."

Juskiewicz said Shuttleworth, a school board member and the owner of Built Right Construction and Remodeling LLC, has primarily worked with residential building and may not be qualified to oversee construction of the police facility.

Juskiewicz and other committee members also quickly weeded out Whiting-Turner Contracting, whose proposal they said did not seem exceptional enough to be almost twice the cost of most of the others.

The committee on Monday also voted to enlist GNCB Consulting Engineers of Old Saybrook to conduct independent inspections and testing at the facility. The tests, Juskiewicz explained, must occur before a building permit can be acquired

Additionally, it authorized the payment of $1,343 in state building and zoning permit fees for the same reason.

Committee members, who chose The Nutmeg Companies Inc. of Norwich to be the project's general contractor last month, still expect construction to begin this month.

Voters approved the $6.75 million facility, which will replace the existing about 7,000-square-foot building at 11 Lorenz Industrial Parkway, in May 2013.

Once finished, the more than 11,300-square-foot, two-story building at 741 and 737 Colonel Ledyard Highway also will feature landscaping, a parking lot and other improvements.

l.boyle@theday.com

Twitter: @LindsayABoyle