Orange council to interview four firms to develop plans for Village Hall, fire station projects

ORANGE, Ohio — Village Council will interview four architectural firms at 6 p.m. Monday (Aug. 18) at Village Hall.

The firms have been recommended to develop preliminary plans and budgets for the renovation of Village Hall and construction of a potential new fire station.

The interview session was set up during council’s meeting Wednesday (Aug. 13) at the request of Mayor Judson Kline.

The interviews will be conducted in an open meeting of council and the public may attend. But residents will not be permitted to speak or ask questions during the meeting, Council President Brent Silver said.

Residents may submit questions in writing in advance that could be asked during the meeting.

Those questions should be emailed to Clerk of Council Anna Girardi, executive assistant to the mayor, at [email protected].

On Aug. 6, Kline reported to council that a review committee composed of himself and other village officials had identified and ranked three architectural firms to develop designs and budgets for the project.

A fourth firm was also suggested for consideration by council.

By scheduling the interviews for Monday (Aug. 18), council will be able to make its selection official at its Sept. 3 meeting.

“I’d like to move forward with this so we can get to a value for this project and determine the next steps thereafter,” Kline said.

In order of how the review committee ranked them, the top three firms are DSA Architects, Richard L. Bowen & Associates and Perspectus Architecture.

All three firms are based in Cleveland.

Kline said the review committee also expressed interest in giving consideration to a fourth firm — Bialosky, also of Cleveland — due to its long relationship with the village.

Kline noted Aug. 6 that even though Bialosky has less experience with police and fire facilities than the other recommended firms, it had worked under former mayor Kathy U. Mulcahy to study the design and budget for the original expansion and renovation of Village Hall.

Silver said he expects each interview to take about 30 minutes, so the meeting should last at least two hours.

Discussion by council will follow the interviews, he said.

“The purpose (of the interviews) is for council to have an opportunity to hear from the architects to determine who you all feel will build the best relationship with the community, represent our interest and, at the same time, provide the best design and quality design for these facilities,” Kline said.

“And we’ll be able to, as accurately as possible, establish a budget.”

Public financing will be involved

Kline suggested that during the interviews, council may want to inquire about the firms’ experience in budgeting for these types of projects.

“It’s very critical to the outcome of this project insofar as there will be some level of public financing involved, and we need to be very specific, so that when we do go to the village for a bond issue, we are going with numbers that reflect what we will be able to build and be able to do it within that budget,” he said.

On Aug, 6, Kline said a bond issue will be needed to fund the renovation and construction projects.

He told council at that time that his goal is to place the bond issue on the May ballot.

Mayor explains strategy in letter

In a letter to the community in the village’s E-News sent Tuesday (Aug. 12), Kline said, “With an eye to the future,” the village is looking into replacing its fire station with a new state-of-the-art facility, as well as renovations to Village Hall “to accommodate the police, administration and community (and) serve the village for the next 30 years.”

He added that he wished to share with residents the motives, objectives, strategy and process to achieve this goal.

“The current Village Hall facility was designed and built 30 years ago based upon the demands of the community at that time,” he said in the letter.

“It was undersized in many respects and did not foresee a future where we would have both male and female firefighters and police officers.”

When Village Hall was built in 1995, the village had a volunteer fire department and no need for a dormitory, exercise and training spaces or a working kitchen, Kline said.

“Therefore, in 2022, under (former) Mayor Mulcahy, we began to look at how we might renovate and expand the Village Hall facility to meet current and future needs for the village,” he said.

A plan was produced and budget estimates were created, Kline said. The village then engaged an architect to formalize the project and provide “accurate cost estimates,” he said.

“With that information, the village considered its options and came to the realization that the money we would spend for the expansion and renovation would not adequately serve the village,” he said.

“We could spend the money and find ourselves having created a ‘Band-Aid’ solution.

“Therefore, we started to consider a more practical arrangement that would produce a new fire station and then a renovated Village Hall that moves the police facilities into the existing fire area.”

In pursuing this course of action, village officials felt a cost benefit study by the fire department was essential, both to determine the best location for a new facility and to identify the requirements for the new building, Kline said.

“As the village is growing and the population center is moving northwest, with many of the fire calls and all the runs to Ahuja Medical Center (in Beachwood), a location in the area of Harvard and Brainard (roads) is a logical location,” he said.

With the purchase of the 2-acre parcel at Harvard and Brainard from the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, the village is proceeding to the next steps, Kline said.

These include the selection of an architect or architects and design of both the fire station and Village Hall renovations.

“The process will include public input and involvement,” he said.

“The objective is to develop plans, calculate accurate cost estimates, establish an accurate budget plan and determine the project delivery method.

“In completing the steps noted, we will then be able to determine how best to finance the project and prepare a bond issue to put before the voters,” he said.

“We are excited to build for our future and look forward to pursuing it together.”

After council determines the selected architect or architects, the firms will provide a fee proposal for the specific projects, Kline said.

The proposal or proposals would then be reviewed by Law Director Stephen Byron and presented to council for legislative action, he said.

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