Committee puts Strang study on hold until they hear back from employees
By Kellen Olshefski
SLN Staff
The City of Elkhorn Finance and Judicial Committee is looking for input from city employees on their views of the future of City Hall before they dive into a study with Strang Professional Services.
The topic came to the committee at its July 25 meeting with a suggestion to take on a similar study of City Hall to what was done in 2007 and 2013.
Chairman Scott McClory said he still stands true to what he’s said in the past, noting he doesn’t think the city should spend the money only to hear “the building’s falling apart” when it’s something the study has shared in the past.
“Now we’re going to pay another $7,750 for them to come and tell us that this building is not a good inhabitable building in its current condition,” he said at the July 25 meeting.
McClory said he voted against the study in both 2007 and 2013 for the same reason, noting that the only two options both times were to move or renovate.
Alderman Hoss Rehberg said before proceeding to engage Strang, he thinks the city first needs to look at what the plans are for the future of city hall, whether it will remain in town, be moved out of town, be refurbished or be built new.
“There’s places available in town that with some renovations could be a nice City Hall,” he said.
Rehberg also said he thinks looking at employee space needs is critical at this point so that if Strang were to complete a study, they would know how many employees will actually be physically working out of City Hall.
For example, he noted having the city’s public works manager in City Hall just doesn’t make sense.
“I don’t know why the public works director isn’t over in that building with his guys,” he said. “I would really like that evaluated first to see where people should be and what is most feasible before we go waste money on a study.”
Rehberg said with the size of the building, determining where department heads believe staff should be placed to run most efficiently could help to determine whether or not the city should even look into the possibility of renovating City Hall as it might not need a building of that size.
“Without Strang, this building might not even be feasible if only six or seven people are going to be in it,” he said. “This building is huge.”
McClory said he agrees, but doesn’t think anyone on the council has the expertise to evaluate the potential cost to stay in the current building or provide architectural rationale for why the city should move locations.
Rehberg said he would like to see aldermen discuss about what it would like to see for the future of City Hall before paying for the study again.
“I think we need to make a decision as a council, do we want to rehab this building, and if we do, then we go to Strang for a study,” he said. “If the council at this point is not in favor of rehabbing and wants to look at other options, then we go in that direction.”
Mayor Howie Reynolds said while he’s not arguing with Rehberg’s point, he thinks it’s only fair to taxpayers to be able to provide some type of numbers showing what it would cost to renovate the current City Hall.
“We need to get to that point where we know what it’s going to cost to rehab this,” he said. “You need to be able to tell the public that it’s going to cost X dollars to stay here.”
Alderwomen Cathy Bensaid said she thinks before getting any outside group involved, she thinks both councilmen and those who work in City Hall need to determine what they want to do with the space.
She said she thinks the city needs to be able to tell Strang what they want and what the long term plan is.
“Without asking the people who are actually working in the environment, and as Hoss said, determining who needs to be in this environment versus other places, then we shouldn’t engage,” she said.
Alderman Tom Myrin agreed with his colleagues, noting he thinks their needs to be more discussion before the city spends any money.
“I agree with you Scott, I think the study needs to be done,” he said. “But, I think we need to have some discussion around what we really need first so we all have a better idea.”
McClory said while he’s trying to be patient about a topic he’s passionate about that was brought up 12 years ago and has gone nowhere, his concern is that the longer it gets pushed back, the less likely the council is to either renovate or move by 2018 as it had already agreed was the plan at an earlier meeting.
Rehberg said he doesn’t think this will drag out the process, noting he agrees with McClory in the fact that it needs to get done.
“I think as long as we keep it on the agenda, we keep it moving and keep it a priority, it will be done,” he said. “Let’s do it right, let’s put the time in and make it right so we get the city hall we want for the people.”
McClory said an interesting return could be that all department heads would want to be under one roof. With limited space and an inability to build out from the current location, McClory said this would create a situation where space would be an issue.
A motion was made by Rehberg to request department heads to provide written reports on where they would like their employees and the needed space, and also to have department heads, or a representative, attend the committee’s meeting on Aug. 22. Information the committee is looking for from department heads includes the number of offices needed, number of staff members, needed square footage and what location they would like to be in.
The motion also included asking city employees on whether they would like to stay in the current City Hall or find a new location.
