The newly seated Ninth Osage Nation Congress could soon be tasked with deciding on finalized design plans as well as appropriating more funding to proceed with plans for a new Legislative Branch building on the government campus.
The Congressional Affairs Committee heard a building update from Legislative Legal Counsel Loyed “Trey” Gill and design professionals hired to work on the conceptual design schemes. Last year, the then-Eighth ON Congress reviewed the initial designs for a new building to house the legislative chambers and Congressional Office operations and an $8.4 million appropriation to fund building costs was filed for the 2023 Tzi-Sho Session.
After discussion and debate on the proposed $8.4 million figure, Congress passed the bill (ONCA 23-86 sponsored by Congresswoman Jodie Revard) with the amount reduced to $6 million during that fall session. The hired design firm then proceeded to work on conceptual designs with fewer building amenities and features that would bring the cost down.
On July 22, the committee revisited the legislative building designs with Gill and representatives Matt Williams and Matt Eccleston from Tulsa-based Narrate Design – formerly Selser Schaefer Architects. The proposed new Legislative Building site will be along Circle Road north of the Welcome Center and south of the new Child Care facility slated to open this year.
“They are helping us with the design of the building and have been walking us through these potential cost reductions due to the cost estimate that came back on the current design,” Gill said of Narrate.
Gill led the presentation, noting the initial building design included features such as a dedicated committee meeting room, dedicated conference room, dining area with kitchen attached, and individual offices for all 12 Congress members.
Another notable feature in the original design is a large canopy supported by 12 pillars signifying the current numerical make-up of Congress, as well as “a significant budget for landscaping … all of the windows have eyebrows above them to help with heat, there’s a nice patio in the back,” Gill said.
Gill said he and Revard have been working with Narrate on the building design since last year’s meeting as directed by the former committee. “The estimate at that time for this design was about $8.4 million, but Congress said ‘Well, we like the design, but we’re only going to appropriate $6 million.’ So, we took that after it was approved and went back to the design team.”
With Narrate representatives attending virtually, Gill presented possible alternative designs that will cost less with building features removed, including half of the individual offices for 10 Congress members. In the revised design, the Speaker and Second Speaker would have their own offices while the other members would share office space once again.
Congresswoman and committee member Maria Whitehorn asked what the square footage is for the member offices. Williams and Eccleston confirmed the member offices will be 150 square feet in the original design.
According to Gill, the scaled-down building design plans would also include a combined dining and conference room area, reducing landscaping, building a different canopy, changing building materials, changing fixtures, removing the reception area fireplace, removing windows, and removing plans to build the restrooms with materials so they could be designated storm shelters during violent inclement weather. “It will change the texture and look of the outside of the building, here in my opinion, most of the design features that were originally appealing to the building are pretty well negated,” he said.
“We’re not really asking the committee to make any decisions today,” Gill said. “But we need to make a final decision soon whether we’re going to accept these reductions, some of the reductions or go back to our original building (design) still having the members share offices – But have to appropriate additional money and I know there’s probably members of Congress on all sides of that decision. But we can’t move forward until that decision is made.”
After the Ninth ON Congress members started serving, they met in special session on July 15 where the new select and standing committees were formed. Now serving on the Congressional Affairs Committee are Whitehorn, John Maker, Eli Potts, Whitney Red Corn and Second Speaker Otto Hamilton is the Chair.
Maker asked if the building cost at $6 million is “set in stone” or if it can be increased with an additional appropriation. “If we wanted to go back to the very first original design, then we would need significantly more money,” Gill responded.
Red Corn said she reviewed the design documents and there are suggested “three-tier options of things to remove.” The first revised design includes reductions taking the building cost down to $6.9 million, the second one is $6.6 million and the third one would cost approximately $6.184 million, she said.
“So there is still going to be a need to appropriate $184,408.90 at this point even if we go with the lowest option,” Red Corn said. “But we set the original appropriation at $6 million, so we’re still going to have a conversation of appropriating at least a little more because it’s slightly over budget if we were to do the second renderings sent to us today.”
After the reformed Osage government launched in 2006, the ON Congress shared the Chambers Building with the Osage Minerals Council before moving to the Nation-owned former First National Bank building’s first floor and later into the adjoining Main Street office space where it currently is housed. The legislators have had to share offices with one or two fellow Congress members at these locations.
Later in the meeting, Gill also clarified a question from Whitehorn that the first revised design is “reduced down (from the initial design) to what we thought would be a $6 million building and then when we sent it to the cost estimator, they said it was $7.8 million.” He noted the initial $8.4 million design would also have to be sent to a cost estimator and that price likely will change as well, should Congress agree to choose that design.
“What I think is we need to think about the Osage people here,” Maker said. “This (building) belongs to them, it doesn’t belong to just one member of this Congress, it belongs to the future government … I’d like to add that we just had a ribbon-cutting for a (Counseling Center) complex that costs $19.5 million and we didn’t do any downsizing on that one, we didn’t cut any corners, we went first-class all the way, we need to do the same on this building. I think we could have each member have their own office and still do some of the glamour downsizing and it will still be pretty good and if we have to appropriate some more money, I say we do it.”
Whitehorn said “I’d really like for us to try and warm things up on our campus, to me it’s not about any one of us who sit here. This is our government building, it’s the people’s house and I want them to drive up and say ‘Hey, look at this.’ This is not about me, it’s not about any of us sitting here, it’s about the people who move on into the future.”
Williams said the building will be constructed to have a 100-year life span as Whitehorn asked about its longevity.
On the member offices, Whitehorn said “I came in (during her first Congressional term) sharing an office up in the old building and I was OK with that, now when you get three people to an office, that’s a little bit close quarters. I don’t necessarily have to have my own office, I think the Speaker definitely needs their own office, I think the staff need their own office and I’m just telling you from experience what I’ve seen and what I see here.”
To move forward, Gill said he needs a Congress member to sponsor an appropriation bill to cover remaining building costs and the members can decide on that amount.
Revard said she requested the Executive Branch look into unspent federal funding that could supplement the building project, as well as grants which can be used on buildings.
In response to questions on the $6 million appropriation set last year, Revard, who is the Congressional Appropriations Committee chair, said “It was us prioritizing as a body, we were looking at the money we had available and not just our need for a building, but the Nation’s needs … and one of them was reducing the amount of the request for our building. We did put aside some money for a temporary space for our culture and language (departments) that they’re going to be building.”
Red Corn also noted she attended the ribbon cutting and toured the new Counseling Center complex built west of downtown Pawhuska and said she learned that as a building project, not everything on the project wish-list made it into the construction. “There were several million dollars of asks that could not be put in – ponds and walking trails and larger buildings to be able to house more people … Yes, there’s room for expansion later and they can add to it later if they’re able to generate the revenue to be able to do so.”
“Seeing what we’ve been able to build up on our campuses and out at PRT with the amount of money given to each budget, I have absolutely no doubt this will be beautiful, this is something we can be proud of if we said ‘OK all we can put forward is another $200,000 to meet that very bottom option’ – it’s going to be stunning, there’s some beautiful features in there and they will stand the test of time and it will be a 100-year building.”
Maker filed one of the first bills ahead of Tzi Sho Session’s start on Sept. 3, which is ONCA 24-68 – “An Act to authorize and appropriate the amount of $3.5 million to the Capital Asset Fund for a new Legislative Branch Building.” The 24-day fall session will be largely focused on considering and approving the Nation’s 2025 fiscal year budgets and appropriation-related legislation as the new fiscal year starts Oct. 1.
