Council seeks proposals to help determine the fate of City Hall

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

Erected in 1971,  Charles City’s City Hall turns 50 years old in less than two years.

With its golden anniversary looming, the City Council is asking what’s in the future for the building at 105 Milwaukee Mall that holds city offices, the Police Department and council chambers.

“I don’t know what this building is or isn’t capable of,” said City Administrator Steve Diers at a council planning meeting Monday evening.

After a lengthy discussion on the matter, the council agreed for Diers to send out an RFP (request for proposal) to various architects to see what could be done with the building if the city wants to continue using it as its main office location.

“I think we’re to the point where we need to get some proposals or else forget it — one of the two,” said Mayor Dean Andrews.

Diers said moving the City Hall and police station to other locations such as the Cedar Valley Health building, the new Floyd County Law Enforcement Center or the school district’s North Grand Building have been ruled out.

“We’re saying, ‘Here, take our space and tell us what we can do and how we can get it worked out,’” said council member DeLaine Freeseman about the RFP.

Freeseman said he thought that two or three proposals could be requested and that each one might be in the $15,000 price range or close to $50,000 for all of them.

Most members of the council agreed the current building is outdated and lacks the technology that a 21st century city hall requires.

“There’s a lot of wasted space in this building,” said Freeseman.

Options mentioned for the building included expanding south toward the Cedar River or creating a two-story building with potential parking areas on the ground floor.

The Broadband Commission also needs a space for its data center/telecom for the proposed $12 million fiber-to-the-home project that has reached a critical juncture. Soon the council will have to vote on whether or not to move forward with the final build phase.

The commission chose City Hall as it default location last week for the time being while it looks into five other buildings around town that could accommodate the telecom. The space would need to house staff, store fiber and internet equipment and provide a reception area for customers.

Mayor Andrews asked if having the telecom at the same location as City Hall and the Police Department would aid in funding construction of the broadband internet data center.

Diers said it could. The cost associated with purchasing or creating a data center ranged anywhere from $300,000 to $400,000. The cost could possibly be lower to refurbish an area in City Hall into a workable telecom.

“You want to make this decision once and that’s going to be the spot,” said Diers.

Coming up with a solution to the building needs for City Hall and the Police Department has been a top goal for Charles City for the last several years, and there are still many questions that the council hopes some architectural input can answer.

“Here’s the square footage of each of these three entities that we need to try and fit here,” said Diers. “What can we do? Can we build vertically? Can we expand out? Does it need to be taken down and start from scratch?”

Diers also said the building is a prime retail real estate location and could either be sold or rented out if the city decided to relocate City Hall.

“I think this is a time where I think we need to look at our options,” said Andrews.

Andrews brought up the idea of eliminating the walkway space between City Hall and the library and expanding in that direction, which would require relocating the entrance to face Clark Street.

Council member Keith Starr said, “Part of it might be us redefinining how we use the team. This building’s been the same since 1971. We’ve got a lot more technology. We’ve got a lot more different ways to do stuff.”

Also at the council meeting Monday evening:

• The Charles City School District is looking to purchase a 30-by-90-foot piece of property that the city recently acquired from Allied Land Development near the high school, to be used as part of a new softball and baseball field the district is planning to build in that area. The small parcel of land is behind the left field wall of the ball diamond, which would sit southeast of Charles City High School. Diers said the school district would like to start construction on the complex as soon as June.

• Two areas that encounter a lot of high water after heavy rains may get new storm sewer intakes and expansion of an existing storm sewer.

Comet Bowl, 1100 S. Grand, has had water enter the building after heavy rain. City Engineer John Fallis said additional intakes and an improved storm sewer can be constructed there upon city approval.

The undersized storm sewer at the intersection of South Oliver and South Johnson could also be improved as well as an overland flow path created.

“The street’s basically like a bathtub. It just fills up,” said Fallis.

• The Immaculate Conception Church is also looking to improve surface drainage and access to the storm sewer system on the south side of its offices between the church and Brantingham Street. IC Church is requesting a permanent easement from the city for the storm sewer.

• The boilers at South Cedar Terrace Apartments need to be maintained. Housing Director Heidi Nielsen said the 20 buildings on the property each has a boiler that heats the structure, and the boilers have been in operation since 1994. The cost to replace the boilers was estimated at $220,000. Maintenance on the boilers, at a cost of just over $16,000, was deemed more cost effective. The project should be on the council regular meeting agenda scheduled for Monday, May 6.

• Diers said the city received Parks and Rec Director Steve Lindaman’s letter to inform them that his last official day on the job would be Friday, May 31. Diers said he has narrowed the search to replace Lindaman from 38 applicants down to 25.