At Tuesday night's board of aldermen meeting, Warrenton Director of Operations Terri Thorn told the board the city was close to finalizing building design plans for the proposed $1.35 million project. "We're hoping to be able to have this project out to bid by the end of August or in early September," observed Thorn. Thorn told aldermen she had hoped to present the revised building footprint drawings from the architect at the meeting. But she did not receive the drawings before Tuesday's meeting. Once the plans are approved and bids are solicitated, Thorn said it would take approximately 30 days for the city to review the bids and award the contract. "We believe we may be able to start construction sometime in the fall," Thorn said. "That's the way things are looking at this point." City officials anticipate building an addition north of the current office complex. The complex is located on West Street and houses the city council chambers, plus offices for many city staff members. In the city hall basement, the Warrenton Police Department has a "cramped" office, according to officials. The city finance office and recreation department are located in a converted house at the corner of West and Main streets. The offices for the public works department, the building inspector and the economic development staff are located further west down Main Street. When the plans for renovation and expansion were announced in March, officials said they envisioned a new facility which would enable the city to house most, if not all, of its staff in one building. To do that, they said they were considering plans to connect the present city hall building with the finance/recreation building or to demolish the finance/recreation building entirely. The new facility would likely be an L-shaped building with a new main entrance situated along Main Street. Components of the new facility include a new city council chamber, additional office space for city employees and an expanded police department headquarters. The present city hall was built in 1986. Officials agree the city has clearly outgrown its current facility. Once the plans become finalized, Thorn said the city might be able to capitalize on the current soft construction market and find an aggressive builder who would be willing to undertake the project as soon as possible. "That could play a role in determining who gets the bid," Thorn observed. "If we find a contractor who could start pretty quickly, it would be a positive factor the board might want to consider." The city has about $700,000 in funding earmarked for the new facility. Those funds are part of a $7.7 million finance package to build the new indoor Warrenton Recreation Center. Additional funding would come from an allocation from the city's water and sewer department fund. The city previously reserved funds for the project in last year's budget, which included four quarterly $45,000 payments for infrastructure work at the Wal-Mart SuperCenter north of downtown. Only one of those payments was actually made, city officials said, due to unforeseen delays in the project.