Based on the self-introductions and context provided within the dialogue, here is the formatted transcript: [0:00] **Don Tyson:** Hi everyone. I'm Don Tyson. I'm the owner's representative for the city of Oakdale for the exciting project coming up, the police expansion and city hall remodel project. We're going to go through the project today and also you're going to hear from the project architects and see some of the designs that we have so far. So, this project does have some history. Back in 2015 to 2018, design was started. Uh back then, the project was decided not to move ahead by the city council. So, we did not go to bid with that project. And then in November 2022, thanks to the voters, an approved uh local option sales tax was done for $15 million to build a new police department project. [0:41] **Don Tyson:** And then in November of 2024, approved an additional $3 million for an $18 million total for the police department expansion. Last April 2025, the city did contract with BKV Group as the project arctic and design work began. And as I said earlier, you're going to hear from the project architects here in a little bit about the design. In June of 2025, the city then contracted with Cross Anderson Construction Company to be the construction manager at risk for the project. They also currently are doing the same uh serving in the same role for the public works project that it's under construction and will be open here in early 2026. [1:22] **Don Tyson:** City council certainly has been actively involved in the project along with city leadership and in July and November and just recently actually uh this month in December had work sessions to review the project design, budget and schedule. [1:38] **Don Tyson:** What's the project need? Well, the police departments occupy the same space that they're in now since 1992. And as you see here, since then, sworn officer staff have increased by 70%. Complaint reports have increased by 65%. And the police department really needs new and modern space to deal with those service demands that have increased since they've been in the building since 1992. [2:01] **Don Tyson:** And even more importantly for city hall, they've been in their current space since 1979. And since that time, city population has doubled. city staff have increased and also being it's a building that's really 46 years old today, all the existing infrastructure items like heating and cooling and electrical, the elevators are outdated, are constantly needing repair and it's going to be much more efficient to replace those with in a new facility than to try to keep repairing those with a remodel. So, the city council has adopted project goals for these important projects of the police expansion, the city hall remodel. [2:36] **Don Tyson:** Certainly, we don't want to build a project that's already outdated when it opens. So, we have a goal of meeting the 2045 city and police department space needs. What are those needs out there 20 years? We want to enhance the public safety and services area so when people come to city hall, they feel safe and can get the service they need. That ties into this improving the city hall resident experience. Folks that come to city hall now, you know that it's kind of confusing on where do you go to get things done. you have to go up to the second floor to pay your utility bills, what's on the first floor, and we're going to be centralizing all the services to make it easy for you to get that service here at city hall. And being the building's been operational since 1979 or 1992, how we work has certainly changed. And we'll be able to improve the city staff collaboration and [3:23] **Don Tyson:** functionality with a new designed building. Certainly want to have cost effective and responsible development. What that means is we need to hit the budget that the city council has given us for the project. Uh we need to minimize disruption and we're going to be doing that by phasing this project. Uh there'll be more information on that later of where city staff and police will be located when the project's under construction. And then finally, staff health and safety, which is very important these days for police department staff and city hall staff is a place where wellness is important. As you know, it's a very stressful job for the police department. [3:57] **Don Tyson:** With that, we're going to move on to the project architects and I'll let them introduce themselves and they'll walk through the site plan that we have and the different and the designs that we're at of what the project's going to look like. Uh, once again, it's going to be an exciting project for the city and I'll come back and talk about the budget and schedule to get this done. [4:08] **Trace Jacques:** Hello, my name is Trace Jacques. I'm a senior design lead and partner with the BKV Group in Minneapolis. [4:22] **Trace Jacques:** The new city hall and police facility for the city of Oakdale represents a complete transformation of the existing site. Employing a contemporary architectural language that balances a civic stature with transparency and lightness. The design strategically leverages form, material, and light to create a welcoming, sophisticated, highly functional new hub for the community and a specialized future focused environment for the law enforcement. A new shared main entry establishes a clear point of access for all users. Visitors are immediately drawn into a daylight-filled two-story volume, a spacious atrium designed to foster clarity and ease of navigation. [5:01] **Trace Jacques:** This central space is powerfully oriented both toward 15th Street to the south and westward, framing views of the adjacent Walton Memorial Park and its pavilion structure, visually connecting the facility to Oakdale's public green space and the community it serves. [5:18] **Trace Jacques:** Crucially, the design is organized to serve the distinct and evolving needs of the Oakdale Police Department. The addition is engineered for operational efficiency, providing secure, streamlined adjacencies between patrol, investigation, and administrative functions to enhance response time and daily workflow. Beyond efficiency, the facility champions a wellnessoriented work environment for its officers and staff. This includes providing access to natural light, outdoor park views, access to outdoor space, and dedicated spaces designed to mitigate the stress of public safety work. Furthermore, the project features integrated on-site training facilities, creating a self-sufficient and dedicated [6:04] **Trace Jacques:** environment for continuous professional development, skill practice, and crisis preparation, directly supporting the department's mission of excellence. The facility's overall design massing is a compelling composition of variously proportioned box forms. This articulation breaks down the building's scale while creating a dynamic layered aesthetic. The material pallet is rich and contemporary, featuring a disciplined combination of durable brick, providing a grounding civic presence and historic reference. [6:43] **Trace Jacques:** Expansive glass maximizing daylight penetration and visually connecting the interior activity to the exterior. Sleek metal panels introducing precise detailing and modern finish. A key design feature is the use of vertical 3D woodlook facade elements. These linear accents are strategically placed to evoke the imagery of a stand of oak trees, subtly referencing the city's namesake and imbuing the contemporary form with a sense of natural local identity. The design achieves a quality of lightness and sophistication through a masterful handling of its mass. The more articulated upper masses are deliberately detailed to appear as if they are floating above the darker [7:29] **Trace Jacques:** masonry and expansive bases below. This visual tension creates an elegant dynamic profile that is both grounded and airy. A significant element of the project is the brand new second floor city council chambers. Positioned at the top of a beautiful new monumental stair. [7:50] **Trace Jacques:** This dedicated and windowed space will serve as the premier venue for civic engagement, underscoring the facility's role as the central location for local governance and public dialogue. The interior design will feature wood, stone, and glass and feel both elevated and inviting with its unique sculpted spatial character. [8:05] **Mike Keely:** Hi, I'm Mike Keely with BKV Group, the project manager on this project. I'm going to bring you through the floor plan here a little bit. Uh with city hall, we are expanding city hall and police project. We are expanding the building to incorporate a 32 stall squad garage for the police department. Um the police renovation will also include uh state-of-the-art training facility for the police, including uh some simulation training, [8:36] **Mike Keely:** fitness and uh and mat training spaces. Uh part of the police facility is expanding the current locker rooms and we'll be relocating expanding the locker rooms to provide adequate space for the department's current needs and also 20 plus years into the future. The current facility also is lacking evidence storage and equipment storage space for the police department. We'll be expanding those areas and introducing uh highdensity storage for evidence that allows them to store uh a large amount of evidence in a in a relatively efficient small space. Um as far as the city hall space, we will be updating city hall and putting all the frequent touchpoint departments on the lower level and that will be kind of a one-stop shop for the community. So part [9:23] **Mike Keely:** of this project includes demolition of the current council chambers and reconstructing the council chambers on the second level, including a new public entrance off of the west side facing Alton Park. The uh the city hall space will be modernized to provide collaborative spaces for city staff to meet uh in small groups and also in larger groups with technology. [9:32] **Don Tyson:** Thanks Trace and Mike for going over the project design. And as you can see, it's going to be an exciting design for the city that's going to really serve the residents well into the future. Moving to the project schedule, January 8th of next year, the planning commission will review the project and then we'll be coming to the city council approval to go to bid the project in January 13th. [10:04] **Don Tyson:** And that really gets us going uh towards getting the project started. Uh project bidding will happen then January to April and we expect to come back to the city council in May to approve those bids which then lets us have a groundbreaking in June of 2026. At this point we expect a construction duration of approximately 18 months and that puts us to completion in January of 2028, but we'll certainly do do everything we can to speed up the project and and minimize how much time city hall and police department are uh affected by the by the construction. So thank you for your interest in the project. If you'd like to stay informed, there's some very easy ways to do that. You can go to the city website and go to this link and you'll get see updates that are always posted there. You can also sign up for project updates at this link and anytime an [10:51] **Don Tyson:** update is made, you'll be notified of that. And certainly uh if you have any questions or comments ever, you can email me as the project openers owner's representative. A link for that is also provided on the project web page. So, thanks again for your time and interest in this project and have a great day.