With the City of Powell’s current shop being old, cramped, leaky and smelly, the city has hired an architect to design a new one.

In November, the city council agreed to hire Point Architects of Cody to create drawings, schematics, a 3D model and construction documents for a roughly 9,800 square foot shop.

Exactly when the new facility might become a reality is unclear, as the city has yet to line up funding for the project. However, Point Architects’ design work can always be shelved “until we actually find and know where we’re getting money to build this,” city administrator Zack Thorington said at the council’s Nov. 21 meeting.

Mayor John Wetzel said it makes sense to have the building designed and ready to go out for construction bids.

“Anytime you’re shovel ready, you’re in a better position,” Wetzel said.

Thorington said the city hopes to seek a state grant for the project and “if we’re shovel ready, we have a better chance.”

In an email this week, Thorington said the current building dates to the mid-1950s and is the city’s oldest building that remains in use.

“It has maintenance issues including leaking roof, insulation falling off the ceiling and walls, old doors and windows with poor R-value that leak,” he said, “and the electrical is old and out of date and can’t run many tools or devices at the same time.”

Additionally, the shop was built on top of a mainline sewer — causing “really bad” gasses throughout the building, Thorington said — and it’s not big enough to fit modern garbage trucks or the city’s semi-truck and trash trailer; when the trucks need maintenance, he said they must be worked on in the parking lot.

The new building will be roughly the same size, Thorington said, but deeper and wider, so a semi-truck and trailer can fit inside. The plan is for the current structure to serve as cold storage for equipment and as a dry spot to stash sand.

Point Architects will be paid a fixed fee of $32,500 to design the new building. That will include helping to handle the eventual bidding phase, answering bidders’ questions and reviewing the proposals they submit. Additional work will be billed at $125 an hour.

City officials interviewed three firms for the job — the other two hail from Casper — and unanimously recommended Point Architects, which has offices in Cody and Garden City, Idaho.

In this year’s budget, the city included $120,000 for engineering and designing the new building, but it may not need that much money. While engineering is not included in Point Architects’ contract, current city estimates suggest the design and engineering work could total closer to $90,000.

The new city shop is set to be constructed in the same area as the current building, at 951 E. Fourth St.