(Arnolds Park)– It’s going to be one and done when it comes to the construction of a new facility housing city offices, public library, police and fire departments in Arnolds Park. The City Council decided during a special session Thursday evening to do the project in just one phase. They had earlier been considering two phases, with the police and fire facilities being constructed first. City councilman Mitch Watters also serves on the city’s building committee. He says there are several advantages of doing the entire project at once…
“A single phase project we’ll be able to do everything within a 12 to 13 month cycle, we hope. If we go two phases that’s going to push it out to 24 to 27 months and increase our cost significantly. If we can get a place for all our offices and entities that the city has, if we can find locations for them, we can knock this down to a single phase and save the city over one million dollars just in construction cost.”
The project is not to exceed 15 million dollars. Watters says the revenue bonds being used to fund the project means they’re committed to staying under that amount…
“Our architect and Houseman that we hired as our contractor are putting numbers together. They’ll work jointly together to try to save the city as much money as we possibly can. You know if the architect puts in something that really is not needed and the construction company feels that they can do it cheaper at a reasonable cost and reasonable savings, you know we can save money there, also. We’re working together with the architects and the construction company at this point.”
The fact the new facility will be constructed on the site of the existing city hall means temporary locations need to be found for city operations. Watters says they’re in the process of finalizing those…
“We’re looking at possibly putting in a temporary unit that would hold city hall staff and then we’re looking at another location that we’re looking for police department and fire department to be relocated into.”
Watters adds if things go accordingly, construction could get underway in mid to late summer or early fall.
