photo by: Bremen Keasey/Journal-World

Lawrence's City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St., as seen on Monday, April 6, 2026.

Lawrence will soon start accepting applications for a construction manager for its new fire station, Fire Station 6, which is expected to start construction next year.

On Tuesday, the commission voted 5-0 to approve a method called “construction manager at risk” to build Fire Station 6. The method differs from a traditional design-bid-build process in several ways, and Mayor Brad Finkeldei said it would be a positive for a project like this.

“I’m a fan of construction manager at risk,” Finkeldei said, for a project with special considerations like a fire station.

Station 6 would be at 555 Stoneridge Drive, near the intersection of Sixth Street and the South Lawrence Trafficway. It is expected to cost $12.9 million to build and more than $4 million a year to staff and operate. On Tuesday, Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Acting Chief Joe Hardy reiterated “the why behind our expansion” – to improve the department’s response times to emergencies in the far northwest of the city.

Melinda Harger of the city’s Municipal Services and Operations department said construction manager at risk was a method the city had used before. She said it was first used by the city for its police headquarters in 2018, and that it’s since been used for wastewater plant improvements and the city’s MSO campus.

About 95% of the city’s projects, including streets and water line replacements, are done through a bidding process, Harger said. But construction manager at risk was better suited for complex projects, she said – facilities like this where “seconds count.”

Basically, it involves a construction contractor and an architect being selected at around the same time, so they can collaborate. At around 90% to 95% of the design process, she said, the construction manager locks in a guaranteed maximum price for the project, which cuts down on the need for cost adjustments, or “change orders,” later.

“It is called construction manager at risk for a reason,” Harger said. If the contractor misses something in the cost estimating process, generally, “that risk is on them.”

Unlike a design-bid-build project, the construction manager isn’t just selected based on the lowest bid, Harger said. Vice Mayor Mike Courtney asked for more information on how the process worked – is it like “finding somebody in your Rolodex?”

Not at all, Harger said.

The city will open up an application process and then evaluate its applicants in a number of ways, she said. Part of the process is based on expense, but another part is a blind evaluation, where applicants will discuss the project and the risks involved in it without mentioning any identifying information. “First they’re identifying the risks, so that shows their expertise,” Harger said.

Applicants will also get to discuss their expertise and what sets them apart, such as experience with projects similar to this one. And there may also be, in later stages, individual meetings with specific team members, like a superintendent, in a “job interview”-like setting.

“We’re looking for the A-team,” Harger said. “… We want to have the best that they have to offer.”

Polian said she’d heard good things about construction manager at risk in comparison to design-bid-build and other methods. She noted that so much depends on who the construction manager is.

“Everything comes down to who the primary is,” she said. “… You guys seem to have a very robust process to screen the primary.”

MSO project manager Steven Hallstrom said the city would have a detailed design contract to show the commission sometime in May, and that the design process would go on throughout 2026 and into 2027. Construction would begin in 2027, and the station is expected to be open by 2029.

In other business, the commission:

• Unanimously authorized the issuance of bonds and temporary notes for capital projects. The debt totals around $184 million, and this was the last step in issuing it, city staff told the commission.

The debt sale took place on Tuesday morning, city finance director Rachelle Mathews said, and the city received seven bids for the temporary notes and five for the bonds.

“While less than some times in our history,” she said, this “does represent a highly competitive sale.”

Votes on the debt are normally routine procedural steps, and many of the capital projects involved have already been completed. But last month, the commission split 3-2 on its vote to move forward on the debt, with Polian and Courtney voting against it. Tuesday’s 5-0 vote took place without discussion by the commission.

• Unanimously approved an amendment to the 2026 budget to reflect an increase in the transient guest tax. The city raised the rate on that tax, charged on hotel stays, from 6% to 8% effective in January, and the increase will add roughly $830,000 to the guest tax fund.

The commission also heard about some of the 2026 FIFA World Cup projects that the guest tax will help fund. Lindsay Hart, interim Parks, Recreation and Culture director, said there will be six watch parties in Lawrence for World Cup games, and that the city is also looking at “activating local talent” and creating a welcome area near the downtown bus stop on Eighth Street for visitors arriving from out of town.