By Derek Spellman

dspellman@joplinglobe.com

A Cincinnati, Ohio-based architectural firm was tabbed Monday night to design a fire station for the far west side of Joplin.

The City Council went through two rounds of informal voting before a majority settled on CR Architecture Inc. The council was split among CR and two other firms — SFS Architecture, of Kansas City, and Gaskin Hill Norcross, of Springfield — before the choices were narrowed to CR and SFS on the second round.

Representatives of the three firms made pitches to the council during a special meeting. The three emerged as the finalists from a field that started with 17 applicants earlier this year before being whittled to seven semifinalists in August.

Council members praised all three finalists, although a number said they were impressed with CR’s experience and its focus on incorporating firefighter training elements — towers, for example — into its building designs.

“Training is becoming a more critical part of the daily life of a firefighter,” Mark Shoemaker, government group director for CR, told the council.

Councilman Benjamin Rosenberg said the company’s breadth and variety of experience offered the best designs and “most creative” ideas among the three finalists. The company, according to its presentation, has designed 100 fire stations, the vast bulk of which have been done in the past seven or eight years.

Some council members raised concerns about the firm’s distance from Joplin.

Councilman Phil Stinnett, who preferred SFS, said it could be more difficult for a distant company to respond swiftly to a problem at a job site, especially if resolving that problem entailed an actual visit.

Joplin Fire Chief Gary Trulson, who headed a committee that narrowed the pool of applicants down to the finalists, said he, too, initially harbored some concerns about the company’s distance before contacting some of CR’s references. None of those references indicated that distance was a problem. The company has worked in 25 states.

“They by far have the most experience,” Trulson said.

All three firms trumpeted their background in designing structures to follow Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, standards. Council members often questioned the representatives about the extent to which they planned to use local contractors, subcontractors or building suppliers.

The cost of the architectural services is still to be determined, pending a contract. Trulson said a proposed contract should be drawn up within the next few months. Including that time, as well as time for the designs and for actual construction, the new fire station should be complete within the next two to 2 1/2 years.

Money was not involved in the selection procedure. The city now will negotiate a fee for the fire station project with the firm.