Faulkner County officials told the county Infrastructure and Roads Committee that reconstruction of the county road shop is underway, with earthwork complete on the north end of the site and contractor bids for the building recently opened.

Mr. Anderson, a representative of the judge's office who gave the update, said crews began moving dirt on the north end of the site about a month ago to lower a hill and bring that area to the elevation of the old road shop. He said the north end will be used for parking dump trucks and the building will sit south of that area. "We started dirt work doing some of it ourselves on the backside, the north end of the project, taking the hill down," Anderson said.

Anderson told the committee that bids were opened the previous Wednesday and are being reviewed; he said staff are checking lower bids to ensure they properly accounted for required work. The county's construction manager, Navholtz, gave a staff estimate of 11 to 12 months to complete the building once foundation work begins. Anderson said the county expects to award the foundation contract quickly and will ask the contractor to start as soon as possible.

Why it matters: the new facility is designed to replace a roughly 50-year-old shop and to provide space and safety improvements that county staff say will support road maintenance for decades. Committee members pressed for details on safety, operations and funding.

Key details provided by the judge's office representative:
- Size: Anderson said the new building is "a little over 18,000" square feet; the old shop was "a little over 10,000." (figures given in the committee update)
- Layout: designers set three drive-through maintenance bays in the middle of the structure so equipment can be accessed on both sides, and the building can be expanded northward if needed.
- Phasing and timeline: the county is doing early dirt work itself and will contract the foundation; Navholtz estimates 11–12 months for construction. Anderson said the county plans to carry some spending into 2027 to spread costs over three fiscal years and avoid overburdening the road-maintenance program.
- Funding: Anderson said the cost will be split between road funds and road sales tax.

Safety and operations changes explained to the committee include a concrete pad around the building (instead of asphalt directly at shop drive-in points), a separated shop area connected by a small breezeway and a fire-rated wall (masonry likely, pending bid outcomes), and a built-in fire suppression system that the presenter said the old shop did not have. Anderson said the county will move a fire hydrant closer to the building to increase available flow for suppression.

The facility will include office space on the southern and eastern sides, a public entry area with a teller-style window, a classroom for larger meetings and a smaller conference room, and an emergency operations center to support OEM and county operations during storms. On climate control, Anderson said both the shop and office areas will be heated and cooled with ductwork throughout the building.

Operational upgrades discussed included plans to increase production capacity for the county's beet-salt deicer mix: larger storage tanks and fitting a dump truck with a larger tank so it can cover more roadway without returning for refill.

Committee members asked whether the county would perform the parking-lot paving; Anderson said parking-lot work will start about a year from completion and the county expects to do the parking-lot asphalt work itself after preparing subsurface layers.

No formal motion or vote was taken during the update; the committee's role was limited to review and questions. Committee members said they support spreading the project over multiple fiscal years to protect road maintenance funding and thanked staff for the report.

Ending: Committee members had follow-up questions about bid timing and site details; Anderson said the county expects to have bid evaluations complete within about a week and to move forward with foundation contracting and construction scheduling promptly.