Bids to be sent out for Public Safety Building

By Steve Van Kooten

The Prairie du Chien Common Council pushed the long-gestating Public Safety Building project forward at their meeting this past week.

The building will house the city's fire and police departments and be located at the site of the old hospital near State Street. 

The council's approval allows the City Administrator Chad Abram and City Planner Nate Gilberts to work with their design firm on bidding the project out to contractors.

The project's design firm, Short Elliot Hendrickson (SEH), will handle the bidding process, according to a memo sent to the council on Jan. 13. SEH previously conducted a space needs study for the project in 2020.

"The bids will come back to the council for approval, but this is just getting the steps moving," said Abram. He later added that the bids will be out for one month.

The city initially planned to solicit bids next month and award contracts sometime in March, but Gilberts said the bids may go out before the end of January.

"We're still going to shoot for the March timeframe because once we get bids back, [SEH] is going to want to go through to make sure everything is met," he said. "We're going to go as quickly as possible, obviously."

According to Abram, the United States Department of Agriculture recently approved the project plans for bidding.

The council approval also allows the city and SEH to develop bid schedules and ensure compliance with the myriad of codes and regulations the project is subject to "maintain project momentum and cost control through a competitive bid process."

Final costs of the project will be determined through the bidding process; however, the memo said the cost is expected to be "within the scope and budget previously approved."

The PSB project has had a circuitous history since late 2022, when Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) procured $4.95 million in federal funds for it. That money is still available to the city, according to Abram.

The city considered multiple locations for the building before settling on the current location in late 2023.

SEH submitted the low bid for agricultural and architectural services on the project ($554,804). They were awarded the contract in February 2024.

The city reached an agreement for the property with Crossing Rivers Health in July 2024, which gave the city until the end of 2026 to get construction completed, otherwise the property would revert back to Crossing Rivers' control. The contract also includes a one-year extension, pushing the deadline back to the end of 2027.

Abram said he met with Chris Brophy, the CEO of Crossing Rivers, to discuss the project.

"I asked for the extension, and Chris said there's not going to be a problem with his board... So, they have no interest in taking it back," he said.

The next council meeting is scheduled for Feb. 3.

Other business

• The council approved a resolution that changed the classification of some roadways within the city. According to the resolution documentation, the parameters for classifying roadways were adjusted by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Classification is determined by levels of mobility and access provided by the roadway. The final map will be made available to the city after approval from the FHWA.