FAIRMONT– The Fairmont City Council on Monday took some action in moving forward with a design team for the proposed Fairmont Area Community Center.

City Administrator Cathy Reynolds said, “As we keep moving forward with trying to get our design team on board for the community center, the city did release the RFP (Request for Proposal) for an architect/engineer in February 2022.”

She said they received nine proposals from firms interested in the project. The nine were narrowed down to three firms that were interviewed on April 14.

Based on the interviews, city staff and Tegra, the city’s owner representative, made a recommendation to move forward with 292 Design Group.

Reynolds said the recommendation was brought to the Community Center Advisory Board last week, which agreed and made a recommendation that council approve the selection of 292 as architect/engineer for the proposed community center.

“With the approval, we would move forward with contract negotiations and bring a contract back to council hopefully at the next meeting,” Reynolds said.

She said that two of the three companies included local subcontractors and Bolton and Menk was one of them and would do some of the engineering work with 292 Design Group.

In a 1 4-1 vote, with Council Member Wayne Hasek voting no, the council approved selecting 292 Design Group as the architect/engineer for the proposed community center.

Next, the council considered selecting a construction manager for the proposed community center project. Reynolds said that staff had previously completed the community center construction manager RFP and went through a review and interview process and recommended moving forward with Kraus-Anderson.

“When we presented that to council, that’s when council decided it wanted to move forward with bringing on an owner’s rep, which we have done in bringing in Tegra,” Reynolds said.

She said now that the architecture/engineer is moving forward and Tegra’s position is established, the recommendation to approve of construction management services with Kraus-Anderson is back on the table.

Council Member Britney Kawecki asked if the RFP was for a construction manager at-risk. Reynolds said that the RFP put out was for a construction manager at-risk, but the RFP also included space for companies to include cost proposals for construction manager as advisor.

“Tegra has reviewed this and have looked at it… they are familiar with Kraus-Anderson and are on board with the recommendation and are looking at it as a construction manager at-risk,” Reynolds said.

Kawecki asked if all of the applicants interviewed provided financials for construction manager as advisor.

“I don’t believe all of them did and I don’t remember if anybody else submitted dual proposals but it was out there and allowed for everybody to submit them if they so desired,” Reynolds said.

Kawecki said that when she reached out to different sources, she found that construction manager at-risk automatically eliminated 60 percent of companies that can submit a proposal.

“I just want to make sure we’re getting the best possible candidates to even submit proposals,” Kawecki said.

She mentioned RJM, which had previously done design work for the proposed community center several years ago and asked if the proposal was for construction manager at-risk or as advisor.

“The proposal was put out construction manager at-risk. Based off questions, we did tell them they could submit cost proposals for construction manager as advisor. Tegra has reviewed these items. Tegra is on board and does recommend Kraus-Anderson,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said that once the selection is approved by the council, the contract will be brought back to council for approval.

In a 4-1 vote, with Hasek voting no, the council approved of moving forward with Kraus-Anderson for construction manager services for the proposed community center.

“Thanks to Kraus-Anderson for hanging in there with us. They have a long history of doing business with our city, our school district and other entities,” said Mayor Deb Foster.

Moving to other matters, a public hearing was held regarding a re-zoning request from Kreuger Realty, Inc. for 1800 State Hwy 15 S. It is currently zoned R-1 single family residential.

Reynolds said that on April 5 the planning commission met and had a public hearing for the request. The commission considered the request to rezone it to either B-1 neighborhood business or R-3 for multiple family residential. She said the commission recommended re-zoning it to R-3.

No one spoke up at the public hearing on Monday evening. Council Member Bruce Peters asked why R-3 was preferred.

“They were looking at the mixed use area through the neighborhood and looked at what is out there. Our current zoning code doesn’t have anything that’s really in line with mixed use neighborhood… the R-3 was viewed as being more in line with the current progression of homes out there,” Reynolds said.

The council approved to re-zone the property to R-3.

In other action, the council approved eight different event permits for upcoming community events that will take place from May through August.

“There’s a lot going on in the city and it’s a joy to do this,” Foster said of approving the permits.

In other news:

— City Engineer Troy Nemmers said that there will be an open house for the new Public Works building from 4 to 6 p.m. on May 19. The new facility is located at 801 E. Margaret St.

— Reynolds provided a reminder that code enforcement is out as the snow is melted. She encouraged residents to make sure they engage in spring cleaning and get yards picked up.

— Reynolds went through highlights from the annual report of municipal services for fiscal year 2021. Reynolds shared that some copies of the report will be available at city hall and the power point will soon be put on the local access channel.