Almost 12 years after the opening of the Saratoga Springs library, the City Council on Tuesday selected both a builder and designer for a new City Hall/library building. The new library hall will be located near 319 S. Saratoga Road, according to the council agenda.

The construction manager/general contractor approved the proposal from Big-D Construction. The two sides will now negotiate a contract to be approved and executed at a later date. Saratoga Springs also awarded the bid for architectural design services to MSR Design.

“Getting both of these firms on board will help us save money down the road,” Assistant City Manager Owen Jackson said.

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Big-D Construction was one of six companies to apply for the project and was among four to receive an interview with city staff. Big-D’s proposed fee estimate for the project was the third highest among finalists at $2,803,111. The other companies interviewed for the job were Sirq (proposed fee of $2,479,564), Hogan Construction ($2,343,670) and Layton Construction ($3,494,277).

MSR Design, a Minnesota-based architectural firm, helped build libraries in Wisconsin, Montana, Oklahoma and elsewhere. The qualifications reviewed by the Saratoga Springs staff committee were key personnel, related projects, project management, cost estimating and overall cost.

“We are not looking for someone to come in and build something they’re gonna win a bunch of awards on,” council member Christopher Carn said. “We want something that’s very functional, that’s going to last us a long time, but looks nice.”

Of the four architecture firms to submit a bid, MSR Design is the only one based outside of Utah. Method Studio (proposed fee with alternatives of $2,812,685), CRSA Architects ($1,834,213) and MHTN Architects ($2,645,570) are all headquartered in Salt Lake City.

While council members Carn and Chris Porter participated in the interviews with potential designers and builders, council member Michael McOmber requested he join future conversations, especially on the design side.

“I just want to make sure they’re not building a building for 2023 but something that’s gonna really help us through into 2024-2043, so another 20 years,” McOmber said.

The discussion did not receive extended conversation during the City Council meeting.

City budget

The City Council was also presented with a balanced budget summary for the 2023-2024 fiscal year by Spencer Quain, budget administrator. The budget is estimated to increase by over $1.5 million to $37,718,543. The largest budget increases are for the fire department (approximately $600,000 increase), administrative (approximately $500,000 increase), police (approximately $400,000 increase), Bluffdale police (approximately $400,000 increase) and nondepartmental (approximately $300,000 increase).

McOmber expressed gratitude that the budget has wiggle room between projected revenues and spending.

“We’re ready to handle quite a few situations,” McOmber said. “It’s a much better place to be at the end of the year when we’re looking at allocating extra funds into various projects than trying to find funds.”

Approval of the library builder and designer, though, would need to still be added to the proposed budget.

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