Buckeye council approves $458,000 contract with SmithGroup to lead City Hall envisioning

The Buckeye City Council on Oct. 21 approved a professional services agreement authorizing the city manager to sign a contract with SmithGroup to lead the City Hall envisioning, planning and conceptual design work for CIP project 109570. The motion passed unanimously.

James Gray, project manager in the city’s CIP program, presented the scope and schedule and said the contract award to SmithGroup is for $458,000 and the work is expected to run approximately 22 weeks on a fluid schedule that will accommodate council and community workshops. Gray said SmithGroup will provide a vision framework, site analysis, conceptual renderings, cost modeling, and a phased roadmap for future design and construction decisions.

Gray described the process as community driven and said council and staff will be engaged early and throughout the effort. He told the council the project will include leadership and stakeholder workshops, community engagement sessions, site-selection visits to exemplar city halls and interim deliverables for council review. “The what, where, and how have yet to be decided,” Gray said, noting the consultant’s role is to help the city explore options and produce financial and phasing information.

Gray summarized the consultant selection: the city issued a request for qualifications on June 10, 2025; four firms responded; an evaluation panel that included Gray, Deputy City Manager Sedovich and three directors selected SmithGroup based on experience, approach and an understanding of Buckeye’s vision. Gray noted SmithGroup’s portfolio of civic projects and cited the Tolleson Civic Center as an example of work from the firm’s portfolio.

Council members emphasized that the process should be community-centric. Council Member Goodman said the community should lead the design conversation: “This is their building, and we just have an opportunity to do the city's business in it,” he said, adding that public workshops will be important. Vice Mayor Eustace and others said they expect extensive public outreach and in-person engagement rather than a perfunctory process.

The contract summary in the presentation lists the award at $458,000 and an initial schedule of roughly 22 weeks, and staff described the schedule as adjustable to accommodate council availability. The procurement text in the meeting agenda named the contracting parties as “Arizona Municipal Corporation and Smith Group Inc, Michigan Corporation” as the professional-services agreement parties; the presentation and staff referred to SmithGroup as the selected consultant.

Council voted to approve the contract and authorize the city manager to execute the agreement. The vote was recorded as unanimous; five council members were present at roll call and two members were absent. The contract award will move to implementation steps including kickoff workshops, stakeholder engagement and concept development if the council proceeds to later phases of design work.