Additional design work can move forward on Prairie Village’s new proposed city hall, after the city council approved the biggest expenditure to date for the much-discussed project.
In a 7-3 vote Monday, the Prairie Village City Council approved a $2 million supplement to its agreement with Kansas City-based firm Clark and Enersen for additional work designing a rebuilt city hall.
Councilmembers Tyler Agniel, Terry O’Toole and Lori Sharp cast the dissenting votes. Councilmembers Chi Nguyen and Nick Reddell were absent.
The cost for the new city hall is capped at $30 million, which City Engineer Melissa Prenger told the Post includes the $2 million the city council approved Monday.
The decision to move forward with the plan comes after a public input session in March at which residents who participated mostly opposed either the city hall project altogether or the $30 million overall maximum price tag that came with it.
Of the 31 responses from residents that the city received at that March meeting only nine showed support for the project as presented.
Monday’s vote clears the way for more design work
- Prairie Village originally entered a $130,000 agreement with Clark & Enersen in September 2022 for preliminary design work, which contemplated a more modest renovation project at the time.
- An additional $360,000 was approved in August 2023 for conceptual and schematic design of a new build.
- The $2 million that the city council approved on Monday is for the design phase, which includes “construction documents, bidding and construction administration,” according to city documents.
- Prenger told the city council that $1.5 million of the $2 million is being paid for out of the city’s remaining American Rescue Plan Act funds, federal dollars authorized by Congress in 2021 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Finance Director Jason Hannaman told the city council that the other roughly $500,000 authorized Monday is being transferred into the city’s capital improvement program fund from the $1.15 million in the 2024 municipal complex improvement budget.
Councilmembers want more refined costs, updated designs
- Several councilmembers asked city staff and Rick Wise, senior principal with Clark & Enersen, for a more concrete number on the final projected cost of a new city hall and for designs that reflect city council and public input.
- Wise said a construction manager is likely to have more concrete estimates for the total cost in about two weeks, which would be about the time the city council is expected to meet again on June 17.
- O’Toole, one of three councilmembers who voted “no” on Monday, said he wanted to wait to vote on the $2 million supplemental to the contract until the construction manager’s estimate is shared.
- Councilmember Terrence Gallagher, who also offered design input about making the city hall more of an entry point, said the design and cost concerns will be fleshed out with the design development process.
- “My car is starting to break down, do I start putting the money into my car to get the parts put into it because it’s at that age, or do I buy a new one?” Gallagher said. “It’s a very simplistic dollar value approach, but we have to make that decision. We can’t do it with the information we have right here. We need to hear what they come back with. with the nuances we want to see changed in the design, [the] materials, the comments.”
Next steps:
- Prenger told the city council that additional items will come before the governing body as the process continues.
- This includes choosing what elements of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards are appropriate for the new city hall, she said.
Go deeper: Watch the entire city hall discussion online here, starting at 1:07:33.
