At last week's board meeting, the aldermen unanimously approved a bid from Lamb Construction Co., St. Charles, for the 3,200-square-foot, one-story building. Lamb bid about $328,000 on the project. In addition, the aldermen also approved a bid from Lamb of $6,000 to concrete the parking lot around the building. The building will contain a large multipurpose activity/meeting room, a kitchen, office space including room for the Wright City Chamber of Commerce, and a gazebo. The central activity/meeting room will hold about 100 people and could serve as a future home for board meetings. Those meetings are currently held at city hall, which only allows seating for about 30 people. In recommending that aldermen accept the bid from Lamb, parks director Curt Kehoe said the contractor had done several other projects in Warren County and had a good reputation for "quality work." Board President Jim Schuchmann said he felt the contract price worked out to about $100 per square foot. "I think that's a pretty reasonable price for a commercial building," Schuchmann said. Kehoe told the board a change order might be needed once Lamb starts site work. "We aren't sure about the soil in that area," said Kehoe. "The type of soil they have to work with will determine the building footings." Kehoe said if the soil is unstable, Lamb would excavate the site and bring in suitable soil at a cost of $28 per cubic yard. The building, according to Kehoe, was designed to resemble an early 20th-century train depot. It will include arched windows, designed to resemble train station ticket windows. The city will also decorate the grounds around the building with railroad memorabilia. "With our city's history with the railroad, it provides a natural link to the past," Kehoe said. Diekroeger Park currently features an early 20th-century railroad caboose which is open to the public. Construction on the building will likely not start until late next month due to the city's annual fall Strassenbash festival, scheduled for Sept. 19-20. That means the first event in the new facility will probably be the Arts in the Park Festival in the spring of 2009, Kehoe said. The new building will provide the city with an opportunity to expand its parks department programs, according to Kehoe.