Keokuk narrowing choice of City Hall architects

BY COLIN MAGNESUN
Radio Keokuk News Director

KEOKUK - Now that the Keokuk City Council has identified the Connection Bank and Insurance Buildings on Main Street as the next home for the city offices, the City Hall Committee is now faced with the task of narrowing down eight proposals that have been submitted for architectural services.

City Administrator Cole O’Donnell laid out the goal for the City Hall Committee when they meet Thursday night at the Pilot Grove Savings Bank Suite on Main Street that is currently serving as the temporary Keokuk City Hall.

Eight total proposals were submitted to the City of Keokuk for architectural services after the Connection Bank and Insurances Buildings located at 501 and 515 Main Street, respectively, were selected to become the next city hall locations. O’Donnell explained exactly what those prospective services will include.

“Well what they’re gonna do first of all is they’re gonna go in and take a look at the infrastructure. See if there are any upgrades or changes that need to be made in order to meet our needs or our code. They’ll also help design the modifications to the space to meet our workflow needs,” O'Donnell said.

Once an architectural firm is selected, that company will then also help out with designing the new layout of the City Hall, according to O’Donnell.

“So then they will design everything, draw up the plans and specs, work through the bid process, and then also manage the construction phase once we accept the bids.”

The city staff has also been very integral in defining the needs for the new city hall by letting management know certain features that have been needed at city hall in the past but weren’t available.

“So the staff came up with ideas like, ‘We need a vault. We need space for a public works lab’. So we decided to look at these buildings and decide how they can meet our needs,” he said.

The goal, as stated earlier by O’Donnell is to narrow down the list of eight companies to a manageable number of firms that can then be asked to come in to the next City Hall Commission meeting to present their ideas and credentials to the committee.

“At the next meeting, the selected companies will present to the committee and explain some of the similar projects that they’ve done in the past. But they’ll also present their ideas for how this space can be used to accommodate our needs," O'Donnell said.

The Keokuk City Hall Committee meets tonight at 5:30PM from the Pilot Grove Savings Bank building at 601 Main Street.