City lawmakers approved a contract on March 24 with Big-D Construction to conduct the expansion of Midvale’s Public Works division.

The construction firm will demolish some of the buildings at the Public Works campus to make way for its new facilities. The expansion project includes installing a wastewater treatment station, a vehicle repair shop and a specialized car wash next to a newly constructed storage space for the department’s fleet and equipment.

Big-D will also add about 13,500 square feet of office space to Public Works’ administration building. Administrative staff will work at City Hall and the community center as the additional workspace is under construction, according to Big-D’s proposal.

The department’s renovations are fully funded, with $18 million coming from a bond and an additional $5 million from city funds, according to Jerimie Thorne, deputy director of Public Works. Big-D’s role in the expansion is budgeted at $17 million under the contract.

Midvale tapped the architecture firm Galloway and Company to develop a master plan for the expansion in 2024. The city teamed up with Galloway again in May 2025 to further flesh out the firm’s blueprint and prepare bidding documents.

A total of 18 companies submitted bids for the construction project, according to the Midvale City Selection Committee’s award justification memo.

The committee “narrowed it down to the top four with the initial scoring being a very small margin,” Thorne told the council in March. “We felt it was necessary to do due diligence and making sure we selected the right contractor on this project.”

The main selling point of Big-D’s bid was a construction schedule that would finish up earlier than other proposals, the memo states.

The proposal also notes Big-D’s experience working with Galloway and highlights nine projects when the two companies worked in tandem.

“Most notably, Big-D and Galloway are currently partnering on the Murray City Public Works Facility, a project with remarkable similarities to the Midvale expansion,” the bid filing states. “The lessons learned and best practices from that ongoing collaboration will directly benefit this project.”

“When teams know each other well, projects run more smoothly,” it continued. “We are able to anticipate needs, resolve issues quickly, and focus our collective energy on delivering the best possible outcome for the owner rather than learning how to work together.”

Construction on the Public Works campus is scheduled to finish in January 2028.