By Kellen Olshefski
Correspondent
The City of Elkhorn Common Council is expected to decide on a firm to provide City Hall Design Services at a meeting in the near future after holding off last week to gather more information.
Councilmembers had previously listened to proposals from four architectural firms at Committee of the Whole meetings on April 1 and April 4, ultimately deciding to recommend Zimmerman Architectural Studios, Inc., to the full Council in a 4-2 vote. The other three firms expected to present proposals included Kehoe-Henry and Associates, Kueny Architects LLC and FGM Architects.
However, at the April 15 Council meeting, a motion to approve Zimmerman Architectural Studios, Inc., failed to garner a second, leaving the motion dead.
At that meeting, Alderman Tim Shiroda said that, personally, he would like to wait a week for the Councils financial planning workshop scheduled during this Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting to hear more about financing the City’s capital improvement projects before moving forward, a sentiment that the majority of the Council later shared.
Alderman Tom Myrin said he was disappointed in the selection of Zimmerman, noting that he was among the two dissenting votes at the Committee of the Whole meeting. Myrin said the firm didn’t provide any of the construction costs for a new City Hall, something that he wasn’t comfortable with.
“I can’t believe that the citizens of Elkhorn would be OK with us building a new City Hall without knowing what the costs were,” he said. “Three out of four gave us costs, and they didn’t. I don’t believe we should have an open check to be able to do that.”
After the motion to approve Zimmerman died on the Council floor, a motion to hold off until after the Council discussed financial planning at this week’s Committee of the Whole meeting was approved by the Council.
