Trustees Explore Costs of New DPW Building

Whitefish Bay trustees have slightly reversed course on a new building for the Department of Public Works. 

After originally rejecting a new DPW building, Whitefish Bay trustees have now asked consultants to see if the project can be done without raising taxes. Trustees on Monday awarded a $20,000 contract to Riley Construction, in partnership with Stephen Perry Smith Architects and Pierce Engineering, to assess the DPW's needs, draft architectural drawings and estimate construction of a new building. 

The deparment has operated out of a nearly 100-year-old horse barn since 1994. 

Discussion about a new DPW building first arose in June, when Village Manager Pat DeGrave proposed a $4.1 million, 41,000-square-foot building at the southwest corner of Lydell and Fairmount Avenues.

When trustees revisited the issue in February, they said they would consider a new building if the cost would be the same or less than what the village pays for the DPW to be in the horse barn. On average, the village spends about $276,000 per year in rent, which includes $51,921 in Glendale property taxes and $91,918 in utilities.

With Monday's approval, trustees have still not committed to a new DPW building, but are continuing to see if the new building—and its borrowing costs—can be funded without raising taxes.

"The price of turn-key operation is really going to be what drives this, and whether we can keep that price – with debt service – as close as possible to what we pay for rent," DeGrave said. "That's been our goal and our target with this."

Once the team of consultants make a cost estimate, Whitefish Bay trustees would decide whether they want to proceed with a new building. But John Mann, who is acting as an owner's reprentative to the villlage, said he is optimistic that it can be done.

"I would not sit here in front of you and say let's spend $20,000 on this phase if I didn't think we have a really really good chance of getting the project done with the quality we want, the functionality we want and at the price we want."