Union leaders are concerned that a Kansas-based company chosen to construct the new Kansas City Chiefs’ training camp facility will use out-of-town tradesmen over local workers.

Officials representing nearly 1,200 skilled union workers met in St. Joseph Tuesday for their monthly meeting, where the discussion centered around disappointment over a local company not winning the bid.

Missouri Western State University officials say they would have liked to use local labor, but they were bound by state statute to use the lowest bidder. State tax credits will pay for construction.

Crossland Construction Co., based in Columbus, Kan., plans to begin work on the indoor Chiefs’ facility on July 1. They bid lowest out of 14 general contractors at $10.29 million. Four St. Joseph construction companies bid on the project.

Greg Logan, president of the St. Joseph Building and Construction Trades, said unions supported the practice facility from the start as a needed stimulus for local, skilled workers hurting in the economic downturn.

“We went to City Council meetings. We went to the county. We talked to all the politicians. And then all of a sudden, it’s kind of like, ‘We got what we wanted, now go away,’” Mr. Logan said. He said union leaders are reaching out to local officials, but the decision ultimately laid with Missouri Western.

The Board of Governors is expected to ratify the choice of Crossland at its meeting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the Blum Student Union.

In making its bid, Crossland indicated that it will hire six local subcontractors to work on the facility.

The names of those subcontractors have not been released, citing legal concerns. However, Western may release the list after a meeting with Crossland on Friday.

Dan Nicoson, Western’s vice president for university advancement, said Crossland is required to comply with state prevailing wage law that sets pay at an even rate among workers — one concern local unions had about an out-of-state pick.

He said state law required Western not to give preference to local bidders.

“We would much prefer to work with local vendors and contractors whenever we can, but we absolutely had no latitude in terms of following state law on bidding,” Mr. Nicoson said.

Ahmad Safi can be reached at ahmadsafi@npgco.com.