SPANISH FORT, Ala. — Plans for a potential city complex are getting closer to the drawing board with the backgrounds of 12 architectural design firms being considered by the advisory board convened to explore the project’s merits.

The long-discussed city complex would be constructed on 18 acres purchased by the city five years ago at the intersection of highways 72 and 31. To date, preliminary discussions espouse a collective desire for a community center and library as well as meeting space large enough to house both City Council and planning commission business as well as municipal court.

The board, which meets each Wednesday morning in the City Hall conference room, recently advertised a request for interested firms to answer a series of questions designed to give the body an idea of the scope and cost of similar projects in neighboring and other markets.

Mayor Joe Bonner said although the city has scrimped and saved to set aside $1.5 million in recent years toward a down payment for such a structure, the advisory board exists only to recommend whether the project should be pursued in the current economic climate.

“We might be facing an unprecedented opportunity to save money on a project of this size because of the timing and the economy, but we aren’t certain at this point, and we’re certainly nowhere near making a decision,” said Bonner.

The construction industry, he said, has been hampered considerably by the sour national economy, and builders appear eager to negotiate at levels they might never have considered in more lucrative times.

“Now that we have some of our questions answered, we can move to the second phase,” Bonner said.

Indeed, some 19 companies responded to the request for information, but seven of the firms were ruled out immediately for providing incomplete packets or not properly securing the confidential questionnaire.

Of the 12 companies still being considered, Bonner said the board would decide at the Oct. 7 meeting how to proceed with the information accepted, but a comprehensive site plan complete with architectural renderings are the desired goal. The weekly meeting conflicts with the standing press time for the Spanish Fort Sun, and any new developments will be reported immediately at www.baldwincountynow.com.

Five of the seven companies eliminated from consideration failed to provide at least one requested pricing component — including the estimated cost, final project cost and actual expected bid — on the minimum of five sample projects submitted.

“I’m not going to go buy a car without (the seller) telling me what they’re willing to sell it for,” Bonner said.

District 2 Councilman Mike McMillan said the difference between the contenders’ actual bids and actual costs — on the projects for which those figures were available — offers the clearest indication of how efficiently the projects are run.

Of course, a few contenders set themselves apart from the competition by providing visually stunning presentations of their past work, while others distinguished themselves by providing letters of recommendation and even itemized change orders, accounting for every penny of project cost overruns. One firm went so far as to put the Spanish Fort seal on every single page of the presentation.

The attention to detail did not go unnoticed.

“We were very pleased with the quality of the work we saw from all 19 companies, and there’s definitely a lot of interest in this project, but I think part of that is a sign of the times. There’s just not a lot going on out there (in new construction projects) at the moment, and we’re hopeful that means we might see some more competitive pricing,” Bonner said.