Joint committee recommends multiple agencies' five‑year capital plans; KBI projects and state hospital expansion highlighted

The Joint Committee on State Building Construction on an interim agenda reviewed five‑year capital improvement plans from multiple state agencies and recommended approval of those plans, while members pressed for more details on specific projects and costs.

Committee members heard details about a new Kansas Bureau of Investigation office lease in Wichita, change orders for the University of Kansas Medical Center, Department of Administration building priorities and repairs, a multi‑agency Pittsburgh regional crime center funded by bonds and federal grant designations, and capital requests and priorities from the departments of Transportation, Commerce, Labor, the judicial branch, the Department for Aging and Disability Services and others.

The committee recommended approval — by voice vote, recorded as unanimous in the meeting record — of the agencies' five‑year plans and related routine items that day. Many presentations were updates; several items were requests for future appropriations or enhancements that will return to budget and finance processes.

The most prominent operational items presented:

Kansas Bureau of Investigation lease (Wichita) Paul Fernkopf, Lease Administrator, Department of Administration, told the committee the KBI is relocating from space it sublets from the Kansas Highway Patrol to a privately leased building at 8300 Thorne Drive in Wichita. The negotiated lease terms reported to the committee were 22,174 square feet of office space at $15.78 per square foot for 15 years, plus the landlord providing 9,960 square feet of storage space at no charge. The KBI will contribute a one‑time $850,000 tenant‑improvement payment, including converting basement space to secure parking. The department said utilities are included in the base rate and the lease rate was within local market averages; staff agreed to follow up with the landlord for building energy and meter details when Energy Star benchmarking is not available.

KU Medical Center change order (Westco Hall) Barbara Schilling, Deputy Director, Office of Facilities and Property Management, told the committee a change order to add the north windows back into a Westco Hall B and C project at the University of Kansas Medical Center came in under budget. The change order added $145,867.68 to bring the contract total to $723,217 and will extend the contract schedule by 90 days. Staff said funding is available in the original allocation and no additional appropriation is required; legal staff advised the committee that formal approval by the committee was not…