Council chooses firm to oversee PD project

MARSHFIELD – A Sauk County company will oversee the development of Marshfield’s relocated police department.

With Alderman Derek Wehrman absent, the Marshfield Common Council voted 8-1 on Jan. 27 in favor of hiring Plain-based Kraemer Bros. to serve as construction manager for the renovation of the Wildwood Plaza’s 30-year-old Buffalo Building into the city’s law enforcement headquarters.

Alderman Mike O’Reilly, who also voted against the site’s original selection in August 2024, cast the lone dissenting vote.

“A general contractor can basically do very similar scope of work compared to what you have here,” O’Reilly said during discussion. “I’m not completely sold that they’re going to save the money. From my perspective, I don’t think hiring a construction manager is worth the price when we can refine things… your engineers should be able to feed you almost the same information that a construction manager is. This budget is so tight that I don’t think they’re going to get what they want the way it is, and I don’t know that spending that much money that could go into the project is a good situation.”

Alderman Mike Feirer noted that construction managers have saved the city money on similar projects in the past.

“We went through the same issue when we built the fire department,” Feirer told his council colleagues. “It’s the first time we hired a project manager, and you’ll find out that that project manager will save you money. We did well with that with a project manager. We did real well with the library and the community center. So I think that, in the long run, it teaches you a lesson that these project managers are worth every dime you give them because if there’s a savings there, it goes back into the project, not in a contractor’s pocket.”

Acting Public Works Director Josh Mauritz told council members the city issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for construction management services in December 2025.

“We received proposals from six firms,” said Mauritz. “There were twelve that expressed interest in the project and ultimately we got proposals from six.”

Under the proposal from Kraemer Brothers, the firm would be paid $475,000 for “General Conditions,” such as project management, administration, coordination, operational support, etc.

In addition, Kraemer proposed a 1.75% construction management fee, meaning that the city would pay an amount equal to that percentage multiplied by the actual construction cost. 

Since the common council has established a construction budget of $10 million, that would result in a construction management fee of $175,000, according to City Administrator Steve Barg, who noted neither the General Conditions fee nor the construction management fee are final at this point, since the city has yet to execute a contract with Kraemer Bros.

The city is also actively pursuing up to $2 million in additional state grant funding for the renovation project.

Minneapolis-based BKV Group has been retained as the project’s architectural and engineering firm and has been working with the city since spring 2025 on planning and design efforts.

The city anticipates completion of construction documents this spring.

Construction and renovation work is expected to start late this summer, with completion in late spring/early summer 2027.

A design summary defines the total project at roughly 35,000 square feet, consisting of a mixture of building renovation and new additions.

The completed facility will accommodate all core police operations, including administrative functions, patrol, investigations, evidence, property, support and wellness, public interface, detention processing and fleet operations, according to the RFP.  

The primary project component is the adaptive reuse of the single-story, 22,603-square foot Buffalo Building, located at 2504 S. Central Ave., Marshfield, which was donated to the city by the previous owner, Dan O’Connell and Wildwood Real Estate, LLC.

Connected to the renovated structure would be a new 878-square foot office addition.

A major new construction component is a 12,000-square foot enclosed garage housing and supporting the department’s fleet and operational functions.

The current police department, located at 110 W. First St., Marshfield, was built in 1981, and is approximately 18,000 square feet in size.

According to a 2023 review of the existing facility by Lake Delton-based architect ADCI, “it appeared that most, if not all, areas of the existing building are outgrown.”