Chaska council OKs negotiating contracts for new Municipal Service Building with Ortell and RJM

The City of Chaska City Council on Monday authorized staff to negotiate contracts with Ortell, an architecture firm, and RJM, the city's construction manager, to design and manage construction of a new Municipal Service Building.

City staff presented the recommendation after an RFP process. Elise (city staff) told the council the RFP was issued Jan. 29, 13 proposals were received by the Feb. 19 deadline and a pre-proposal meeting drew about 40 attendees. Staff narrowed the field to five firms and interviewed them in late February before recommending Ortell and retaining RJM for construction management.

The move is the next step in a multi-stage schedule staff outlined. Elise said the city hopes to negotiate and sign contracts within roughly two weeks, complete space programming and schematic design soon after, proceed with design development in June–September, finish contract documents Oct.–Jan. 2026 and begin construction in early 2026. She also told the council the project will go through…