Deeper dive: Cape council, committee to hire second consultant for aquatic center project

The Cape Girardeau City Council looks to hire another consultant Monday to help plan for a new, indoor aquatic center even as an advisory committee offers up an expansive list of what could be included in the project.

City staff has recommended hiring Counsilman-Hunsaker, an aquatic design and consulting firm based in St. Louis, at a cost of $25,750.

This would be the second consultant hired since October for the project.

City manager Scott Meyer said in a council agenda report the firm was a “close second choice” last year. At that time, the city hired Colorado-based Ohlson Lavoie Collaborative to handle the initial planning. The city paid the firm nearly $31,000.

But that planning effort focused largely on site selection and “conceptual ideas,” according to Meyer.

Additional planning could not proceed until Cape Girardeau School District voters in April approved a bond issue, Meyer wrote.

Passage of the bond issue allowed city and school officials “to move forward into a stronger planning process,” he explained.

Mayor Bob Fox has said the committee could benefit from the advice of a different consultant who mght have “different views.”

The new consultant will do a needs assessment based on input from the city, school district, and the advisory committee, and look at such things as programming, design and capital and operational costs, Meyer wrote.

Counsilman-Hunsaker will make a final report to the City Council and the Cape Girardeau School Board, whose members will make the final decision on the project.

A six-member committee of Cape Girardeau city and school district representatives spent months last year considering needs for an indoor aquatic center. The group, on a divided vote, recommended a new aquatic center be located next to Jefferson Elementary School.

The city and school district combined have committed $10 million to the project even as officials concede that is short of the funding needed to build an aquatic center.

Now, a 21-member ad hoc committee, chaired by Cape Girardeau School Board president Jeff Glenn, is focused on what should be included in an aquatic center.

Committee members have suggested the center should include a 50-meter competitive pool and a leisure pool.

But committee members have suggested a lengthy list of other priorities including a spectator area, concessions, locker rooms and a party area.

Other wide-ranging ideas include incorporating a community center and a health clinic, as well as new space for the local Boys and Girls Club, and outdoor amenities such as a basketball court and pavilion.

It also has been suggested a pedestrian bridge be built across Highway 74 to connect the aquatic center to Shawnee Park.

There’s even a suggestion of including a satellite office for the police department in the aquatic center.

The needs list also proposes the facility be designed to recover 70% of operational costs after three years and 80% after five years.

Glenn, the committee chairman, said the various items on the list have not been ranked.

“It’s just a compilation of the suggested wants/needs,” he said.

In an email to the Southeast Missourian on Friday, Glenn said the committee “will identify those items that are most desirable” and then ask the consultant to provide construction and operating cost estimates for those priorities.

Once the committee receives cost estimates and sees how fundraising efforts are progressing, the advisory group will make a recommendation to the City Council and the school board “on what to pursue,” Glenn wrote.

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