The Arkansas Legislative Council on Friday voted to authorize the Bureau of Legislative Research to enter into a contract with Kinco Constructors of Little Rock for the construction of an underground "secured walkway" between the state Capitol building and the Multi-Agency Complex immediately west of the state Capitol.
In a voice vote with no audible dissenters to authorize the contract for the project, the council granted final approval authority for the proposed contract to its Policy Making Subcommittee, which is scheduled to consider the proposed contract Tuesday.
Kinco Constructors' estimate for the project is $3.87 million, which is lower than the original estimate and falls within the bureau's current budget for the project, after a request for proposals for construction of the underground secured walkway, bureau Director Marty Garrity said Thursday. Murray Contractors of Little Rock submitted the other proposal.
Legislative Council Co-Chair Rep. Jeff Wardlaw, R-Hermitage, said Friday the cost of the project will be paid over two fiscal years from funds originally appropriated in 2009.
In a related action, the Legislative Council granted Republican Secretary of State John Thurston's request for spending authority of up to $4.5 million under Act 796 of 2023 for the costs associated with architectural design, construction and renovations of the state Capitol mechanical room to install new air handling system equipment for the north end of the state Capitol.
The location for the new air handling system equipment is between the Capitol and the Multi-Agency Complex, which is known as Big MAC in state Capitol circles.
Two months ago, Mat Pitsch, government affairs director for the secretary of state, told state lawmakers the secretary of state's office completed the installation of the equipment for a new "air handling system" in 2002 for the south half of the state Capitol after one of his predecessors in 1999 described the air conditioning system as wholly inadequate, costing a lot to maintain and failing to provide heating and cooling at an adequate level before state lawmakers agreed to fix it.
But the installation of the air handling system equipment for the north half of the state Capitol planned for 2005 "never got done," he told lawmakers.
If the two multimillion-dollar projects are done together, there is a potential cost savings of between $500,000 and $1 million on the two projects, secretary of state spokesperson Chris Powell said after the Legislative Council's meeting Friday.
The cost for the project for the north end of the state Capitol is estimated to be $4.475 million plus contingency fees, he said. It's anticipated the secretary of state will purchase the equipment and will subcontract to the vendor for installation, he said.
Approval of the underground secured walkway and the new air handling system equipment projects was required by the end of September in order to complete both projects by the start of the 2025 regular session, according to Pitsch, a former Republican state senator from Fort Smith.
In 2009, a proposed $1.8 million, 100-foot pedestrian tunnel that would connect the Capitol and the Multi-Agency Complex was not built after then-Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe expressed his opposition to the project. The total cost of that project, including new entryways, was projected at $2.8 million.
At that time, the Legislative Council signed off on the tunnel plan, but Beebe said he opposed the idea as unnecessary, particularly given the poor economic times in September 2009.
Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders' spokesperson Alexa Henning said Friday in a written statement that the "General Assembly is an independent branch of government, and if legislators feel this is a needed upgrade to our Capitol that uses taxpayer dollars responsibly, then they have the ability to move these improvements forward."
After the Legislative Council's Friday meeting, Wardlaw said "if we are going to dig up" the roadway between the state Capitol and the Multi-Agency Complex "to fix those air conditioners that we found out during session need to be fixed very badly, then you might as well lay the secured walkway in place while that hole was there."
"The other side of that is our staff lugs all that paperwork up that hill, that zig-zag walkway [from the Multi-Agency Complex] to get into the back of the Capitol," he said.
"This gives a streamlined way for our staff to be more efficient and perform their job, and it also lays in a good, secure place for members to go back and forth between the two meeting rooms," Wardlaw said.
There hasn't been a decision made about whether the general public also would be able to go through the underground secured walkway or whether the underground secured walkway would be limited only to lawmakers and legislative staff, he said.
After the Legislative Council's meeting, House Speaker Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, said, "If the HVAC project was not taking place [on the north end of the state Capitol], I probably wouldn't be advocating for this [underground secured walkway between the state Capitol and the Multi-Agency Complex], but the fact that it is makes it the right decision."
He noted there are projected cost savings of up to $1 million from doing the two projects simultaneously.
Shepherd said there are about 30-plus state Capitol buildings that have tunnels across the nation.
"Why is that? Because this isn't just any building," he said. "If this were any other building, we could put a walkway in above ground, but that wouldn't look right for a state Capitol, would it? We don't want to have a skyway coming out of the back of the state Capitol, so it just makes sense. This is a no-brainer."
Shepherd said the state House of Representatives also has given up office space in the state Capitol building to give the state Capitol Police more space.
Prior to the 2025 regular session, the House's current plan is to place 61 offices for representatives on the fourth floor of the Big MAC building in space formerly used by the Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism, House spokesperson Cecillea Pond-Mayo said after the Legislative Council's meeting. Some of the House office spaces in the basement have been converted to use by the Capitol Police, she said.
"The total costs has not yet been determined," she said.
In addition, Shepherd said, "Who knows what the future holds?
"It may present some opportunities to improve the parking situation, including for the general public, which has always been an issue, so it situates us well for the future."