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HomeMy Public PortalAbout2016.02.26 Special MinutesMINUTES McCall City Council Special Meeting Legion Hall - McCall City Hall (Lower Level) February 26, 2016 Agenda Call to Order and Roll Call Work Session Adjournment CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Mayor Aymon called the special meeting of the McCall City Council to order at 9:03 a.m. Mayor Aymon, Council Member Giles, Council Member Swanson, and Council Member Witte answered roll call. Council Member Scott was absent. City staff members present were Nate Coyle, City Manager; Michelle Groenevelt, Community Development Director; John Powell, Building Inspector; Dennis Coyle, Parks and Recreation Director; Meg Lojek, Library Director; Nathan Stewart, City Engineer; and Lisa Kundrick, Deputy City Clerk. Also in attendance were members of the Library Board as well as the Library Expansion Committee, and Terri Lindenberg from Treasure Valley Transit (TVT). WORK SESSION City Campus Facilities Planning Nate Coyle, City Manager, gave an overview on the campus facilities plan. There is an immediate need for office space with not enough at present to accommodate all City employees. At the same time, the Library has been overflowing for several years and is in the process of developing its own expansion plan. This is an opportunity to create a civic campus that complements the Comprehensive Plan and will be a centerpiece for the downtown area. Mr. Coyle discussed the challenges that exist with the current configuration of City buildings. Some employees work in cramped or temporary conditions in the Annex, and departments are often split up to work in more than one building. Some employees' offices are located at the Airport, which is a nonconforming use and may violate FAA grant assurances. The objective is to find a solution for the immediate short-term problem of office space while working toward planned expansion of the entire campus. Mr. Coyle noted that there have already been funds set aside in FY16 and FY17 to relocate Parks & Rec and reconstruct the Annex to accommodate TVT. A recent change to this plan was TVT's purchase of an adjacent office building at 210 Park Street, allowing the expansion of the City campus footprint to the west. This presents an McCall City Council Special Meeting Page 1 of 4 February 26, 2016 opportunity for the City to partner with TVT and share some of that new space, and leaves more possibilities open for reconstruction of the Annex for use by Parks & Recreation. Library Expansion At the forefront of the facility plan is the Library expansion. Mr. Coyle turned over the discussion to Meg Lojek, Library Director. Ms. Lojek began by introducing members of the Library Board and Building Committee who were present today. Ms. Lojek gave an update of the expansion status. An RFQ for a design proposal was issued in late February, proposals are due in late March, and the design phase should begin in June 2016. Ms. Lojek presented a summary of statistics to demonstrate just how much the Library exceeds its designed capacity. Of note, there have been two different attempts for expansion, with two expansion committees formed in 1987 and 2001, so this is the third attempt. Interestingly, the Annex was recommended for use in 2003. Ms. Lojek presented slides illustrating three different expansion options, expanding the footprint in different directions, with estimated gains of 4,000 to 9,000 square feet. Phase 1 City Manager Coyle then discussed the first phase of transition involving the partnership with TVT and their new building at 210 Park Street. Through a commercial lease agreement, some staff from City Ha11 could be relocated to the TVT building. This would relocate the Finance and HR departments from the Annex to the main City Ha11 Building and thus free it up to accommodate all of Parks & Recreation. An added bonus would be that the utility billing desk could finally be accessed by the public. City Manager Coyle added that this would be a long- term agreement with TVT. Terri Lindenberg from TVT acknowledged her support of this agreement and said that the arrangement works well as they had already planned to lease a portion of the building, and having City staff working in the building during business hours would help alleviate TVT's need for a full-time person to staff the bus station. Phase 2 The second phase is to produce a facility to accommodate the Parks & Rec Department. City Manager Coyle discussed four options that included remodeling the Annex, purchase of new commercial space with construction, leverage of the current Museum site, or construction of a facility at the Public Works site on Samson Trail. City Manager Coyle noted that of all the options for Phase2, it seems most feasible to remodel the Annex. The building is structurally sound, it could use same footprint as the existing building, and the cost is fairly reasonable and within reach. The building would be designed as a storefront for walk-in customers in front, with the shop and equipment access facing the rear of the building. There would be a screened lay -down yard in back for storage of materials and equipment. The yard would most likely extend to the bike path. A rough cost estimate for remodeling the Annex would be about $100K to $300K. Some of the benefits discussed about the remodel were that the cost is feasible, it could be done in a shorter timeframe than the other options, and it would be efficient to have the entire Parks & Rec Department under one roof instead of sharing space at the Airport. This plan would require additional site work to make accommodations for a "lay -down yard" with screening to hide materials and equipment used by Parks & Rec, in addition to perhaps moving a section of the pathway. McCall City Council Special Meeting Page 2 of 4 February 26, 2016 Following was some of the discussion of Council and others in attendance: • Council Member Giles suggested it might be more cost effective and practical to start over with a new building rather than remodel the old one. • Council Member Witte thought having front desks staffed at all buildings would be redundant. • Mayor Aymon liked the idea of having multiple store fronts -- better customer service. • Having a second story in the Annex -- is it practical? Is it accessible for all employees? • What about fumes and exhaust from equipment below affecting office employees above the shop? • Council Member Witte suggested the Library share front desk operations with the Recreation Department, giving assistance with signing up for programs online. • Concern over the lay -down yard, storage of Parks equipment and materials (sprinkler pipe, fertilizer pallets, vehicles) -- unsightly for City campus. Option 2 was to remove the Annex building entirely and allocate the footprint space to the Library. This would be a more expensive option as other commercial space would have to be purchased and a new building built. Cost impact would be $700K to $1M. Option 3 was to use the Museum site on State Street. There would be difficulty getting approval from the Museum Board as they are already using the location. This would also be less efficient for the Parks Department as they are located farther away from the facilities they maintain. Option 4 was to construct a facility at the Public Works site on Samson Trail. The current site is nonconforming use even for Public Works and would require a re -zone. This has been attempted in the past but the neighbors were opposed. Public Works Director Peter Borner voiced concern over having enough space to accommodate buildings for both departments. The long-term plan is to relocate Public Works farther outside of the downtown area, so having Parks & Rec there would actually create more of a footprint and complicate this future plan. Direction from Council Council agreed that the most important question to answer is whether the Annex should stay or go. They all agreed that there is a lot to digest. Some of the talking points follow: • Council Member Giles is leaning toward completely destroying the Annex. • Council Member Witte thinks the equipment from Parks does not belong downtown. • Council Member Witte again pointed out the inefficiencies of having multiple front desk functions in each of the buildings. • Council Member Swanson noted that the decision primarily revolves around what will happen to the Library. He thinks that the Library should go up to a second story and the Annex be refurbished. Could the lay -down yard go somewhere else, perhaps across Third Street to the Public Works yard? • Council Member Swanson also feels that the City can only fund one plan at a time, either the Library or the City Campus. He thinks it is more favorable to work on the Library first. • Mayor Aymon also feels that the city should do what we can afford. The Library takes priority and there are funds and a plan for it already in place. Eventually rebuilding the Annex when appropriate would be more affordable. Mayor Aymon does not like the idea McCall City Council Special Meeting Page 3 of 4 February 26, 2016 of having the lay -down yard behind the Parks building, but she realizes the materials stored there are used in the downtown area. She prefers Option 1. • Council Member Giles is amenable to remodeling the Annex, but is concerned over the health of the employees working above the shop due to exhaust fumes. He would support the idea if a ventilation system could control the fumes. He also stated the Library should take first priority in the plan. There was Council consensus that much was discussed so there will be further discussion before any final decisions are made. ADJOURNMENT Without further business, Mayor Aymon adjourned the meeting at 11:10 a.m. cCA���'%. { L % nl _.Mw•M�- ATTEST: BessieJo W er, City • SEAL .* o ., McCall City Council Special Meeting Page 4 of 4 February 26, 2016