The city moved into the building at 260 S. Garber Drive in 1989 when it outgrew the Municipal Building on Main Street downtown. The Municipal Building now is home to Tipp Monroe Community Services.
The design will include a new roof, window replacements; finance office modifications; file storage space; storage for cleaning supplies; new server room; and an IT office. Storage would be fire-protected and climate-controlled.
The addition would be a fill-in of current open space between the Government Center and the Police Department building to the east.
“We need more space. Offices are being used as well as hallways,” City Manager Tim Eggleston said of the long-discussed project. It is included in the city’s five-year capital improvement program approved in late 2021 by council, and design money is included in the 2022 budget.
Council debated whether to move forward with the design before voting 4-2 to contract with Garmann Miller. Council members Ryan Liddy and Kathryn Huffman advocated tabling the project until after the November election, when voters will consider moving 0.2 percent of the city income tax from the capital improvements budget to the general fund for operations.
Other members contended the project is needed and was included in the approved capital plan.
Councilman Doug Slagel said the work needs to move forward because the city has fire code violations because of the tight storage space. Plus, he said, construction costs are rising and will continue.
Fire Chief Cameron Haller said the building didn’t meet fire code because of “storage in relationship to sprinkler heads and also in closets.”
More storage space would allow for proper storage heights and clearances in hallways, council was told. Another inspection is scheduled for December, according to inspection documents.
Doug Arnold, city IT manager, said the storage space situation is serious. Options suggested, including offsite storage, would be a concern due to documents include tax and other financial records.
“In my mind it’s all necessary. I have lived in this atmosphere, this environment, for 20 years at least. We have made due with what we have; it is time to build on so we can enlarge it,” Arnold said.
Eggleston reminded council that once it has the design plan, it can decide if it wants to move forward with all work proposed, or change the project scope.
Council member Greg Enslen, in an email cited during the discussion by council members, suggested to Eggleston that staff think “bigger” and explore more changes. “If we are spending money to update the building, I can think of a few other updates that might buy us time in that location. I’d hate to do a piecemeal update and then have to revisit this issue again in five years,” Enslen wrote.
Among possible areas to explore, he said, would be a building exterior update, more parking, a drive through for utility and tax payments and lobby redesign to “update it from the 1970s look.”
Contact this contributing writer at nancykburr@aol.com
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