The Marin Municipal Water District has begun planning for what would be a multi-million-dollar renovation of its headquarters in Corte Madera.

The district board voted 4-1 on Dec. 16 to hire Kitchell Corp., a Sacramento firm, for $496,758 to provide “owner’s representative services” for the project. The services will include an evaluation of the agency’s administration building and corporation yard, rehabilitation concepts, cost estimates and options for design and construction.

Board member Larry Russell dissented, saying he has concerns about the contract and the nearly $500,000 cost.

“It’s coming a bit out of the blue,” Russell said. “Maybe I wasn’t following something previously, but I don’t remember a discussion like this at all about requiring the kind of service we’re talking about.”

Alex Anaya, the district’s director of engineering, said owner’s representative services contracts are common for government agencies pursuing large capital projects. He said Larkspur hired a firm for these type of services to develop its new city library.

“An owner’s representative is basically a firm that has architects, structural engineers, mechanical, electrical and also cost estimators and construction managers to really help develop and evaluate the cost for the organization,” Anaya said.

Anaya said the headquarters at 220 Nellen Ave. and the corporation yard across the street were constructed in 1962. Besides installing solar panels in 2010, the district has made no other significant improvements to either facility, he said.

The district performed a structural analysis in 1988 that looked at mechanical, electrical and workspace areas to recommend improvements, but decided not to advance any plans. In 2016, the district performed another evaluation that expanded the scope to include a look at the corporation yard, Anaya said.

In 2023, the district explored options for moving its headquarters to a new site. After reviewing potential office sites, staff concluded a relocation would separate staff and create inefficiencies, Anaya said.

This fall, the district solicited firms to manage the project through an owner’s representative services contract that would take a deeper dive than the analysis performed in 2016, Anaya said. The staff selected Kitchell from two applicants who submitted bids.

The new assessment, Anaya said, would involve a detailed structural analysis of the building that would require removing small portions of the facade to examine rafters and columns underneath. Additionally, the consultants would look at the connections between the columns and the foundation.

Russell said he didn’t understand why they would need to expose the foundation.

“Surely, we have the design plans,” Russell said. “Is there a reason to suspect it wasn’t built according to design?”

“Looking at the ceiling makes sense to me. Looking at the foundation doesn’t,” he said.

Anaya said space is limited and providing ample parking is a key consideration, so renovation plans would likely involve building up a story. The examination of the foundation is to get a better understanding of whether it could handle additional load, or if it needs to be reinforced.

Board member Jed Smith supported the contract.

“I think you picked a great firm, and I’m nervous about how much they’re going to find (in the assessment), but we need to do it,” Smith said. “It’s time and I look forward to the next steps.”

Board member Ranjiv Khush wanted to make sure the firm would provide a few options for consideration.

“Because we may determine that the optimum refurbishment is really beyond our budget, and so we might want to go for something that’s more intermediate,” he said.

Ben Horenstein, general manager of the district, said “staff is going into this with eyes wide open, understanding a new admin building always can raise eyebrows if not done thoughtfully, and maybe even then.”

“So we do want to provide options and we do plan on that with the board,” Horenstein said. “And also part of this effort is to get as hard of a cost estimate as we can.”

Anaya said staff expects to come back to the board with recommendations on next steps as early as this summer.