Midwest City exploring upgrades to Public Works
Midwest City hired a consult to evaluate potential improvements to its Public Works Department facility. Photo by Jeff Harrison
By Jeff Harrison
Midwest City Beacon
Midwest City’s Public Works building needs some work.
City leaders last week hired an architectural firm to evaluate the current facility and develop a plan to remodel and upgrade the building.
Paul Streets, public works director, said the current facility “has good bones” but is inadequate for the city’s needs. He pointed to several issues including ADA compliance, plumbing and electrical, and parking.
“This is an opportunity for Public Works and Midwest City to make some informed decisions about future growth and addressing current needs with the Public Works Department,” said Streets, during a Dec. 10 city council meeting.
The city council agreed to hire BKL, Inc. to conduct a needs assessment, site evaluation and concept design for the building. They approved a contract for $150,240 at the Dec. 10 meeting.
Several council members expressed support for the project. Ward 5 Councilman Marc Thompson even suggested skipping the evaluation process and moving on towards replacing the Public Works facility.
“Sometimes we hire consultants to validate what we know we’re already going to do,” he said. Sometimes we can skip the step and go right into planning and designing a new facility. If this is important then I trust your judgement.”
Streets and City Manager Tim Lyon believe they should move forward with the study and are not certain that the building needs to be replaced.
“We’ve sketched a lot of plans on napkins, but we need to evaluate what the needs are to serve our customers. After we evaluate it, we’ll bring some plans and then find a way to fund improvements.”
Streets said the city has been planning and saving up for the project since 2019.
The city received nine proposals, and four firms were selected for interviews. A selection committee which included city staff scored each interview and determined BLK was the highest rated due to their experience with other similar municipal projects, Streets said.
The Public Works building was constructed in 1970 and features concrete tilt-up walls. The city has not made any significant changes to the building since that time. The roof was recently replaced.
The facility includes space for public works staff; storage for maintenance equipment, vehicle and materials; a transfer station and scale, polycart wash bay; dumpster refurbishment area; household hazardous waste storage area; and a yard for storing materials. The fleet department, which includes surplus property operations and storage, is co-located on the site.
The existing office space, locker rooms, equipment storage and parking and central purchasing facilities are inadequate. The facility lacks locker room/restroom space for female employees.
Streets said the facility is not compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act and believes the electrical and plumbing are not up to code.
Parking is an issue at the Public Works building as well as the neighboring Charles Johnson Building, which is used for Neighborhood Services and regularly hosts community meetings.
Midwest City owns land around the current facility that could potentially be used for new construction.
