Eureka Recreation Center Contract to be Readdressed Friday

Whether to ensure the electrical portion of a $6.865 million contract with Wright Construction Services for Eureka's future recreation center goes to a —even if it means at a higher cost to the city—was a question debated by aldermen and Mayor Kevin Coffey at Tuesday's board meeting. They eventually voted Tuesday to approve the overall contract, and deal with the electrical subcontracted portion of it within the 14 days that followed, per a clause in the legal agreement that enabled final questions to be addressed.

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On Thursday, a special meeting was slated to be held Friday (today) at 3:15 p.m., in hopes of working through the bids and finishing the ordinance component.

Coffey told Patch on Thursday the overall cost of the new recreation center project was estimated to be $11 million, if including the funding needed to purchase equipment and materials for the future pool, exercise facility, dining area and offices. The new recreation center will be located on 15 acres across Missouri Route 109 South from where is currently.

Coffey said the overall project cost includes some continguencies to allow for unforeseen situations with rock challenges and other construction issues that may arise once the project is under way.

He said the construction contract, as it was packaged Tuesday, already included some local subcontractors, such as , Kelp Contracting and Presley's Glass Company in Pacific.

Coffey maintains the electrical portion of the work is a major chunk and one of the most important components of the contract, and that it should go to Mike Butler of in Eureka, primarily due to the cost-savings and extra engineering services Butler delivered when recently working with the city to build and .

"Some local professionals submitted considerably higher bids (for the recreation center construction contract)," said Coffey. "And some of the subcontracting work will have to go to companies outside the immediate area, because we don't have any businesses that handle specifics such as erecting flag poles, applying fire proofing and providing food service equipment."

As the contract arrangements stood Tuesday, St. Peters-based Fry Electric held the winning electrical subcontracting bid of $542,000. Butler Electrical's bid would have put the overall construction cost over the budgeted amount by $31,000. Negotiations have been occurring this week, said Coffey.

Other Eureka business owners who bidded, such as , have indicated they were hoping to get a chance to contribute to the project as well.