The Baldwin City Council took action Tuesday that will change the look of downtown with the approval of a $2.7 million contract to build a new public works headquarters.

Baldwin City Administrator Glenn Rodden said Wednesday that Combs Construction would start work this fall on the new headquarters to be built in the city’s Orange Street yard. The contractor has indicated it would take 290 days to construct the new complex, which is to include offices, a garage and storage bays.

The new headquarters will replace the current downtown public works office at 605 High St. and the associated yard, which takes up much of the southern half of the block behind the headquarters.

Architect Jay Zimmerschied wrote in a report to the council that the city received 12 bids for the project. All the base bids were from $2.45 million to $2.79 million, he wrote. Combs Construction submitted the low base bid of $2.49 million. The council approved alternate bid items such as a wash bay and upgraded fire alarm and venting systems that increased the approved contract to $2.7 million.

The council approved the bid 3-1, with Councilwoman Christi Darnell voting no. Darnell has consistently voted against the project out of concern for what its cost could mean to city utility rates. The bond financing the project is to be paid off through the city’s electric, water and wastewater funds and not property taxes.

The council has discussed building a new public works headquarters since 2014 and first received plans from Zimmerschied for a new complex in April 2015.

“This is long overdue,” Mayor Marilyn Pearse said Wednesday. “That building (the current public works office) is in horrific shape.”

Pearse said there was talk of remodeling the current public works building to serve as a new police headquarters; however, she said she didn’t know if the water-damaged building was suitable for any re-use.

The space of the current offices and the yard could become future downtown retail space, Pearse said. Any discussion of future use will be left to the City Council elected in November, she said.

In other business, the council:

• Approved the city’s 2018 budget. The budget increases the city’s mill levy to 44.748 mills, or 0.932 mills more than in 2017. There are no utility rate increases included in the budget. At 44.748 mills, Baldwin City’s share of taxes on a $150,000 home would be $772.

• Approved a resolution to create a benefit district that would make improvements to First Street from State Lake Road to the north city limits. The street serves as the eastern city limits in northeast Baldwin City. The resolution would have the city, Douglas County and Palmyra Township pay for 70 percent of the street’s estimated $430,000 improvement. Seven homeowners in an abutting subdivision will be asked to pay for the remaining 30 percent.

The homeowners will have 20 days to protest formation of the benefit district once its text is published in the Lawrence Journal-World. If four or more neighbors were to sign a petition opposing the benefit, it would not go forward.