Ground has been broken on a $2.74 million public works facility in Cassville, partially funded by federal money and the remainder by the city’s reserves.
David Brock, Cassville public works director, said the 8,400-square-foot facility, which has broken ground at the southwest corner of the city’s land at the industrial park, will include temperature controlled bays, which take up the majority of that space, as well as offices, a shower room, a kitchen and a community room that will be available to the public.
The bid was awarded to Crossland Construction Company, the low bidder among three at $2,749,000. Branco bid 2,782,000, and Arning bid 3,118,000.
It was the second request for bid by the city after the first attempt in 2022 brought in bids that were too high for officials to accept, in the $3.7 million range instead of the intended $2.7 million.
“We made sure to structure the bid this time so if we needed to, we could shed some stuff we could live without,” Brock said. “But fortunately, everything we had drawn up was awarded. We scaled everything down rom the original bid, like size of the building, size of the compound and size of the parking lot.”
Plans to build a new public works facility began in 2020, spurred by pandemic concerns due to limited space and no HVAC at the current facility.
The buildings housing the public works department now were erected in 1986, and the city purchased the property in 1994 from the Flat Creek Special Road District.
As the scope of the project changed, so did the funding mechanism, eliminating the proposal for a $1.1 million 20-year loan.
Now, the city will pay for the project out of pocket, utilizing federal money and reserves from multiple city funds. The project calls for $663,875 in American Rescue Plan Act funds, awarded to the city due to the COVID-19 pandemic; $350,000 from the capital improvements fund; $1 million from the general fund; $300,000 from the water department fund; $478,000 from the parks and stormwater fund and $330,000 from the streets fund.
“We put a premium on the architect because the first time, e did not stress coming in under budget, and the second time, we made sure everyone focused on that,” Brock said. “We thought ARPA would be the lion’s share of the funding, and we’d match that with local funds. It’s great we are able to pay for it with reserves and no loan. The loan was under discussion, but with a year of conservative budgeting and oversight on expenses, we are able to pay for it out of pocket.”
Brock said along with the enclosed, heated bays, versus the open bays at the current facility, the city is excited to eliminate flooding concerns from Flat Creek, and to be able to include a community room in the building.
“The community room will seat about 25-30 people, so it can be used as a classroom and will be open for use for community events,” Brock said.
After furnishing the building and paying design, fee and contingency costs, the total budget for the facility is $3,121,772. The building is scheduled to be completed in September 2024.
