HomeMy WebLinkAbout#5 - City Hall Fire Station ProjectSTAFF REPORT
DATE: March 10, 2020
DISCUSSION
AGENDA ITEM: New City Hall/Fire Station Project
TO: Mayor and Council
SUBMITTED BY: Kristina Handt, City Administrator
BACKGROUND:
At the November work session council directed staff to prepare a Request for Proposals (RFP) for design
services for a new city hall and fire station including an analysis of two site options: Combined Facility at
Brookfield site or Public Safety at Brookfield and City Hall at 180 acres. In January the Council approved
the issuance of the RFP which also included the addition at public works that was contemplated as part of
the 2017 space needs study. Proposals were due to the city on February 19th. The city received proposals
from 12 firms. Additionally in February the Council approved an RFP for a Construction Manager At
Risk. Those proposals are due March 6th.
ISSUE BEFORE COUNCIL:
Should the city proceed with the process of selecting consultants for a new city hall and fire station?
PROPOSAL DETAILS/ANALYSIS:
While staff began reviewing the architecture/engineering proposals, input was not received from the
building official prior to his resignation. The tentative scheduled as outlined in the RFP was:
The project development schedule is as follows:
Approval of Contract 3/17/2020
Selection of Preferred Option 4/7/2020
Complete Preliminary Site and Building Layout: 10/1/2020
Complete Final Design: 1/15/2021
The following tasks will be dependent on the Lake Elmo City Council to proceed:
Site Preparation: 6/1/2021
Construction: 6/1/2021
With vacancies in 3 of our 5 department head positions, I have concerns about moving forward with a
project of this size and complexity at this time. We had been on track to select the top three firms for
interviewing with the Council at the March work session prior to the building officials’ resignation. At that
time, I notified the applicants that I would be asking the council to reject all proposals and not move forward
with the project at this time since I had been getting a number of inquiries about the status of our review. It
would be my expectation that we could pick up the project again in the fall after we’ve filled some of the
vacancies.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Delaying the project could result in increased construction costs due to normal inflationary factors.
Alternatively, we are at greater risk of missing something when we are not fully staffed.
I did hear from bond counsel that we can refund the 2018 EDA bonds used to purchase the Brookfield
building at any time we are ready to approve a Capital Improvement Plan for the new facilities in order to
possibly get a lower interest rate.
OPTIONS:
1) Direct staff to prepare an agenda item for the March 17th meeting to reject all proposals on the A/E
RFP
2) Provide direction to staff on a revised schedule if Council still wants to move forward. For example
the next step would be firms interviewing with Council. When would Council like for that to occur?
April work session? Special meeting before then?
*Staff would prepare the necessary adjustments/actions related to the RFP for Construction Manager at
Risk consistent with the direction on the A/E proposals.
ATTACHMENT:
• None