The county's planned administration building is scheduled to be completed next fall, according to representatives from Treanor Architects, P.A., the firm hired to design the facility. While meeting with the county commission last week, they said it would take a minimum of 12 to 15 months to have the building constructed and estimated another month before the building was put into use as the departments. According to the proposed time line presented to the commissioners last Tuesday, construction would not begin until late April 2010. The county has proposed building a two-story, 39,000-square-foot facility which includes full basement on 3 acres it recently finalized purchasing on Mockingbird Lane along South Highway 47 in Warrenton. By the time Treanor meets again with commissioners, tentatively scheduled in the next few weeks, Sharon Schmitz said two to three building designs will be presented for review. From there, she said the commission can blend the designs into one. The schematic design process is expected to be completed by the end of October, with the commissioners agreeing to a final design. "We won't come with one idea and say this is it," Schmitz stated. "At that time, we will look at them and quite frankly, it could be a combination. We will work toward a goal to get the building that will work for the best comprise. We will try to find the best compromise to give the county the best building we can." The proposed schedule also includes a design development phase that will last into December, followed by preparing construction documents into February. The project should be ready for a six-week bid period beginning in mid-February. "It's going to be realistic," Northern District Commissioner Dan Hampson said. "They have a pretty good schedule laid out." Preliminary figures already submitted by Treanor to the commissioners project the new government building to cost $6,780,051, including $5,256,394 in construction costs and $500,069 in land acquisition. The various county departments also will have input on how their office area will be laid out. Schmitz said it's important to gather input from county staff to find the most efficient way for a department to work. "We've done quite a few of these buildings," she stated. "We know how other county departments work. We don't want to make it so tailored to one elected official where it won't work for everybody else. We will try to design a flexible building for you." Treanor representatives also supported the commissioner's desire to hire a project manager to oversee the entire project rather than using a general contractor. The project manager would be responsible for handling contracts with construction crews and reporting directly to the commission. By using a project manager, the commissioners said it's their intent to use as many local construction workers as possible. "I see it as another set of eyes on the project," Hampson said. Southern District Commissioner Hubie Kluesner said the county needs a project manager in place by the fourth week of October. The commission will advertise a request for qualifications from firms interested in serving in that capacity. The commissioners have spent time talking with other counties that have gone through a similar route and said officials from both had favorable results despite being used differently. For instance in Franklin County, Kluesner said the project manager was present daily, while not as visible in Texas County. "We need to get on it right away," Kluesner said. "It seems like you have to define what you want them to do. We have to figure out how intense we want it." The commissioners selection of the Mockingbird Lane location has been met by mixed reviews. Two other properties that made the final cut were a downtown site on land already owned by the county located behind the existing courthouse and a land parcel in the Brune Office Park.