Council Worksession on Public Works Facility and Liquor Store: 2/10/16

A few weeks ago before the regular City Council meeting, the Council gathered at 5:30 to discuss and get straight some of the conversations concerning the upcoming project taken on of rebuilding the City's Public Works Facilities on recently acquired land on the West side of the City and how we can wrap our heads around what needs to be done with the Liquor Store.

We started with the Liquor Store and only briefly discussed it:
There is money to do work in the Liquor Store account, but we need to figure out what that work is and if it makes sense to do that work with the rest of City Hall in the poor condition that it is in. The Council encouraged the Liquor Store Manager to start gathering ideas and to go to other liquor stores and assess what it is that we need for flow, product placement, storage, etc. There was also discussion of seeing if there is any way we can get a market study to see how much more could be sold at our store if it was bigger and had a better selection (and more storage, which means larger purchasing power). These items were passed on and then we moved on to the Public Works Facility.

This part of the meeting began with a little introduction by Administrator Roth of a few things that are still unclear about the project:

1. Timeline

2. Scope

3. Strategy

We started at the top and worked our way through the list. As for the timeline, we are currently in the planning stage. This means that the City has contacted our architects, who already have a plan for a public works facility that a previous Council has prepared, and instructed them to work up these plans on the acquired land. This will not be very expensive due to the nature of the plot of land the City purchased and the fact that the majority of the plans have already been made. Once we see those plans (in a few weeks likely), the Council can either accept or send the plans back for adjustment. Considering that the plans are accurate and what the Council is looking for, then we instruct the architect to create actual buildable plans that the City will then make available for contractors who would like to bid on the project. Any contractor can bid on this project. After we have received bids from contractors for the project, we would have to sign a contract with our chosen contractor and then set the building schedule. We are hoping to have building commence in June and finish roughly in October. That is what we can up with for the timeline. Ambitious, yes, but realistic as well!

Ok, Scope. What does that mean? It means, how much do we want to include in the project? There was talk of the City simply building a "make-do" structure up on the new land so that we can house the Public Utilities up there for 10 or so years hoping for another opportunity for a better garage would come up. The Council decided that this was not a prudent idea because we have no guarantees that anything better would come up and then we are stuck with an inadequate building that we have to be constantly repairing or expanding... Let's build it right the first time with an eye on cutting out the frills and making it utilitarian in nature, but still something for the community to be proud of. With this in mind the Council directed the architect to create the plans with various models included:
-One model would be the "Everything in One Place" model. It would be able to house ALL City vehicles, inventory, and equipment. This will likely be the most expensive design, but would solve all of our issues.
-Another model will be the "Almost Everything in One Place" model. It leaves some City equipment and resources at the other Public Utility sites (Generator Station, Water Plant, Wastewater Plant). This would be cheaper and comes with a few trade-offs, but if it is tremendously cheaper, then it is a great option.
-Yet another model will be the "Just the Stuff Down in the Rec Park" model. We are replacing the garages and storage in the Rec Park, so let's just replace the stuff in the Rec Park... This model is a little more shortsighted than others, but will doubtlessly be the cheapest. If it is tremendously cheaper than the other models, then this will be a serious choice as well.

**Which model is chosen has a lot to do with the input of our department heads and the perceived growth/expansion of those departments. Are there any future acquisitions that the Electric Utility has planned? How about the Wastewater Plant? These things all need to be considered.

One thing that was clear was that the $3.5 million price tag that was put on the project by a previous Council was quickly deemed to be ridiculous and too expensive. The Council is eager to get the plans and estimates back to see what the next step will be. I will definitely be writing about that information when we receive it.

The final item is Strategy. This has to do with the how of this project. How are we going to use the land up there? Will we remove all of the buildings that exist? How? Will the City develop potential business space along the highway? Will the City just sell off the extra land? What model will we choose? Etc. These questions were largely unanswered, but were considered through a lot of lively talk.

It was at about this point when we ran out of time and needed to start the regular Council meeting...

If you have any questions about this or would like to weigh in, please let me know. I am very interested in your thoughts!