Town and Country reviews Navigate predesign for City Hall, police and fire upgrades; staff to seek design agreement

At a Town and Country Board meeting, city staff and consultant Navigate reviewed a predesign study for capital improvements to City Hall, the police wing and the city’s fire station, identifying deferred maintenance, renovation options and conceptual cost estimates. Joe Schweitzer of Navigate said the study is a planning-level effort and recommended moving to schematic design and more detailed cost checks before committing to construction.

The study identified major mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) work — including replacement of aging HVAC systems and sections of cast-iron piping — roof replacement needs, facade repairs (tuckpointing and window/door sealant), ADA improvements and other deferred-maintenance items at City Hall and at the fire station. Schweitzer described “temporary facilities and phasing” options so the city and public-safety operations could remain functional during construction.

Why it matters: city staff told the board the projects would address long-standing building-condition issues that complicate operations and maintenance. The presentation gave elected officials an initial budget picture and a proposed next step: a city agreement to advance design services. No formal contract was approved at the meeting; the mayor and staff said they will bring a design-phase agreement back to the board for consideration, using funds already budgeted in the 2025 city budget.

Details and estimates

Joe Schweitzer, an architect with Navigate, said the firm separated “deferred maintenance” (repairs to make existing systems serviceable) from “renovations” (upgrades or additions). For Town and Country, Navigate’s order-of-magnitude estimates placed the City Hall/police-side work at about $5,000,000 and the fire station scope at about $2,000,000. Schweitzer said those numbers are conceptual and that the next phase (schematic design and geotechnical testing) would refine them.

The team has included contingency assumptions in the conceptual estimate: about a 10% contingency for unknowns and roughly a 3% escalation allowance to reflect short-term price changes. Schweitzer said the firm’s estimating typically falls in the low-to-mid range of actual bid results but emphasized the need for ongoing cost monitoring during design.

On scope, Navigate described a small City Hall addition (about 400 square feet) and a larger sally-port addition for police vehicle processing (roughly 1,000–1,200 square feet, per the consultant’s recollection). The fire-station work emphasized roof and mechanical system repairs and targeted insulation and HVAC improvements for efficiency and occupant comfort; Schweitzer said an MEP engineer in subsequent phases would estimate likely energy or operating-cost savings.

Operational questions and partners

Board members pressed on future staffing and space flexibility. Navigate said the recommended plan largely meets current staffing needs but does not plan for unconstrained future growth; the firm offered to provide cost options to increase future capacity if the board prefers. The board and staff also discussed West County Dispatch/WCDC, which currently occupies space in the building; staff said WCDC would need to relocate for some police renovations and that relocation costs would be shared among the four member cities.

Next steps and board direction

No formal contract or ordinance was approved at the meeting. The mayor and staff said they plan to bring a proposed owner-representative/design agreement with Navigate to a future meeting for Board consideration; those design-phase costs were included in the city’s 2025 budget, staff said. If the board authorizes design, the city would proceed to schematic design, geotechnical testing and more detailed pricing checks before any construction authorization.

Quotes

“This isn’t schematic design. This is concept,” said Joe Schweitzer, describing the study’s planning-level scope and the need for further design and cost checks.

“It would bring those corrections up to today’s standard,” Schweitzer said of the deferred-maintenance work, while stressing that additional design steps are required before construction.

Ending

Staff asked board members to review the predesign materials posted to the city’s transparency portal and to send follow-up questions to city staff; the item will return for proposed design-phase authorization at a future meeting.