The Jefferson County Health Department has agreed to award a $705,250 contract to Archimages, a planning architecture and interior design firm with an office in Kirkwood, to design a new office in Hillsboro for the agency and to perform other work.
The Health Department’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously April 28 to enter into the contract with Archimages after several months of negotiations.
The board already had selected Archimages as the architectural firm for the project and had to determine the scope and cost of the work the company would provide, which will include designing the building, working with the construction firm and contractors and helping get permits, said Steve Sikes, the Health Department’s deputy director of operations.
He said the department used a RFQ (request for qualifications) process to select the firm and more than 10 firms submitted their qualifications.
He said Archimages stood out among the firms and had worked with the Health Department to design its High Ridge office.
Health Department Director Kelley Vollmar said preliminary plans call for a 24,000-square-foot office building with a 9,000-square-foot garage.
Sikes said he hopes to move into the new office in two years.
Vollmar estimates the whole project will cost $10 million.
In February 2021, the board bought 7.75 acres of land in Hillsboro for $762,953.40. Sikes said the property does not have an address but is near the intersection of highways 21 and B in the Pear Tree Plaza. He said the land is near the Dollar General and Phillips 66 gas station and borders Hillsboro City Park.
Sikes said the main goal for replacing its current Hillsboro office is to better meet the current needs of the Health Department and provide room to grow.
He also said he hopes a bus garage could be built on the property to house the Health Department’s six mobile units – vans used to provide health and dental services at nursing homes, schools and other places around the community.
The Health Department has been working on plans for a new office in Hillsboro for several years.
Its current Hillsboro office is at 405 Main St., and is more than 70 years old, board chairman Dennis Diehl said.
Public information officer Brianne Zwiener said the department does not yet have a plan for the office on Main Street once the new one is built.