Poplar Bluff City Council members voted Monday to end a relationship with a consultant on a project to construct a new police department and accepted a bid for construction of the facility.
They are also expected to vote Feb. 16 to finalize financing for the project in the form of certificates of participation.
The city will pay back $18 million over 20 years for this project, City Manager Matt Winters said. The city accepted the bid Monday from Brockmiller Construction of Farmington to construct the approximately 26,000-square-foot building on Shelby Road for just over $8 million. Brockmiller was the lowest of seven bidders for the project.
Costs will be $270,000 lower with the 6-1 vote to break with Navigate Building Solutions, an owner representative who has worked with the city on the project since 2019.
Additional savings will be seen because of a better than expected credit rating for the project, BBB+ from Standard and Poor’s, Winters said. The credit rating means lower fees and interest than the city would have seen with a different rating, he said.
Ward 2 representative Ed DeGaris made the motion to end Navigate’s contract with the acceptance of a contractor for the project.
The city expects final costs for the consultant to be about $290,000, Winters said. Ending the contract now means costs will be just over half of what was originally expected, Winters confirmed.
“I think they brought some valuable services to the project to this point. However, …. in reviewing their contract and the architect’s contract, I think it’s time for us to terminate that contract (with Navigate),” Winters told the council. “They have been acting as our representative, kind of the go-between, between us and the architect, us and the contractor.
“Moving forward, the architect’s responsibility, and the construction phase are really going to be sufficient to carry this project on to the end, between the architect and the responsibilities that myself and other city staff will have.”
The contract with Navigate allows either party to terminate at any time, for any reason, Winters said.
Ward 4 council member Shane Cornman said after the meeting he voted against the measure because he was concerned about oversight.
It would be about 1% of the total cost of the project to keep Navigate, Cornman said.
“When you have that big of an investment, I don’t think you need to start taking chances at that point,” he said.
DeGaris said he felt like the city staff would be able to provide oversight, along with the architects. This includes the city planner, city manager and police department officials, he said.
“I think it (the Navigate service) is costing a lot more than I originally understood when we voted,” DeGaris said. “I think it’s the best move, when we can save money on anything.”
Concerns over cuts to city staffing this year and last year, and other financial needs were part of his decision, DeGaris said.
Mayor Robert Smith agreed both that Navigate had done good work on the project, but that the city could move forward without the company at this phase.
Police Facility Design Group of Kansas City are the architects for the project.