Missouri Western State University officials formally chose Kansas-based Crossland Construction Co. Thursday as the general contractor for the new Kansas City Chiefs’ summer training camp facility.

The university’s Board of Governors ratified a telephone poll last week in which each member of the seven-person board voted to award the contract to Crossland. The firm bid lowest of 14 general contractors, at $10.29 million.

Four St. Joseph construction companies lost on their bids. Western officials say they would have preferred local labor, but they are bound by state statute to use the lowest bidder.

Groundbreaking for Western’s new indoor sport and recreation facility is next Wednesday.

Local union officials were present at Thursday’s meeting, but did not speak up in opposition. They are concerned that Crossland, which is based in Columbus, Kan., will use out-of-town tradesmen over local workers.

“We’re not going away. You can bet on that,” Greg Logan, president of the St. Joseph Building and Construction Trades, told a Western official after the meeting. “Cheapest doesn’t mean best.”

Crossland has told the university it will hire six local subcontractors to work on the training facility. Western officials said they may be able to release the list of subcontractors soon.

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