A year ago, Prairie Village and some of its residents were in the midst of a heated debate over whether the fate of a new $30 million city hall should be decided through a public vote.
Now, months after voters endorsed the project by electing six city council candidates who backed it without a referendum, the city officially broke ground on Friday on the site of a former church that will be home to the brand new city hall on Mission Road.
The current city hall, just to the north at 7700 Mission Road, will be renovated into an expanded municipal court and police department headquarters.
Even at Friday’s celebratory groundbreaking, the memory of the contentious politics of the city hall debate simmered under the surface.
Mayor Eric Mikkelson, a vocal backer of the project, said the ceremonial shovel-turning marked “a historic moment for our great city.”
He pointed out that 75 years ago, Prairie Village City Council meetings were held in the basement of a councilmember’s home. Those “humble, but bold beginnings” turned into “the amazing Prairie Village we all know and love today,” he said.
“Now, with the turn of this earth in a few minutes, we’re bearing witness to the beginning of the next, even better, 75 years of Prairie Village,” Mikkelson said.
Johnson County Chair Mike Kelly, a Prairie Village resident, was also on hand Friday and alluded to the clashes and sometimes-personal rhetoric that preceded the final decision to move forward with the project last year without a public vote.
While elected officials “sign up to take the arrows and the rocks” seen during the planning of this project, Kelly said, “the [city] staff doesn’t.”
“What they do is dedicate their lives to making their community a better place, and it takes a unique kind of individual to choose that career, and I think Prairie Village has done a great job of finding some of those people,” Kelly said.
How we got here
The $30 million project got its start years ago, first as a feasibility study that contemplated upgrades to the existing city facilities at 7700 Mission Road.
That feasibility study found overcrowding in the aging city hall and police department for city, municipal court and police department staffers.
In 2023, two years after the feasibility study was completed, the city council authorized staff to move forward with a project that included a new city hall and a renovated police department and municipal court — with a $30 million price limit.
In 2024, the city zeroed in on the site of Mission Road Bible Church at 7820 Mission Road, just south of the current city hall, when the city learned the congregation planned to move from that space. (The church has since relocated to Shawnee.)
Last year, the city’s plans to remake its municipal facilities became the subject of resident pushback, with some residents and councilmembers calling for the city to take the project to a public vote in order to issue debt for it.
One resident filed a lawsuit — first in district court and then in federal court — to try to stop the project from advancing without a public vote. That lawsuit was ultimately dismissed.
The project and the calls for a public vote became the centerpiece of last year’s municipal elections, when six city council seats comprising half the council were on the ballot.
In November, all six candidates who backed the $30 million project without holding a public vote won.
Councilmember Nick Reddell, who was not up for reelection last year and who voted against agenda items that progressed the municipal complex plan, told the Post in a Sunday interview that he always believed something had to be done to upgrade city facilities.
Reddell said his votes against the $30 million municipal complex, including one earlier this year related to the guaranteed maximum price, were about the path the city chose to take — not about the project itself. That aligns with what he hears from Ward 5 residents, too.
“That’s kind of what I hear is just some people that are still maybe a little frustrated that we didn’t … save the church and renovate the church,” Reddell said. “Some people just feel one way and others feel another about it. I don’t know that that will ever change in the near future.”
Now, Reddell said, the focus needs to shift on finishing the project on time and on budget.
For his part, Mikkelson told reporters following Friday morning’s groundbreaking that that election allowed Prairie Village residents to have a vote on the project, though indirectly.
“While we didn’t have a direct resident vote on this project, we feel like we definitely have the supermajority of the Prairie Village voters behind us,” Mikkelson said.
A look at the project
As part of the $30 million project, $27 million of which will be funded through bonds, the city is getting the following, according to the city’s website:
- A 18,350 square-foot city hall, which costs $15.5 million
- A renovated police department for $3 million
- A municipal court renovation for $2.6 million
In addition to those costs, the city also paid $4.5 million for the purchase of the old church property.
The remaining costs will go toward site work for the city hall and police department, coming to $2.9 million and $1.5 million, respectively.
The new city hall building itself will feature new council chambers, public meeting rooms, an art corridor and offices for city employees, some of whom currently work out of closets in the current city hall.
McCown Gordon, the construction contractor for this project, set a guaranteed maximum price for construction of $20.5 million.
As for the renovated police department, there will be a dedicated property room, an office for the property clerk, an outdoor office for the K9 unit, expanded space for dispatchers and new rooms for interviews.
The municipal court is getting a new clerk window, a waiting area, a defense room and virtual court rooms.
The new city hall will be built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design’s Gold certification.
The project eyes 2028 completion
Public Works Director Keith Bredehoeft told the city council this spring that the construction of the new city hall needs to be completed before the renovation of the facilities at 7700 Mission Road can start.
Bredehoeft told the city council at that time that the full project is expected to wrap up in 2028.
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