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City Hall cost estimate causes council concern
By DAVE SHELTON
Article published on Thursday, July 6, 2006 |
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![[Image]](/content_images/070606_bee-02.jpg) |
| Photo by DAVE SHELTON |
| Belleair Beach City Council members gather in front of garages that now house city vehicles, tools and other supplies. The proposed new city hall will have no garages, City Manager Reid Silverboard, second from right, explains. |
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BELLEAIR BEACH – Despite administration assurances that the city can afford a new $4.5 million City Hall, City Council members are openly wary of continuing the project at twice the cost first estimated.
The issue has put Mayor Rudy Davis at odds with City Manager Reid Silverboard. At one point during the June 28 special meeting to discuss the project, the mayor appeared to slam his glasses into the blueprints in front of him during Silverboard’s arguments in favor of the project.
“For sure, we need to delay this,” Vice Mayor Lynn Rives said. “I remember comments that were very negative when the projected cost of this project went over $2.5 million.”
He proposed halting the project and asking voters for approval before going ahead with it.
A referendum was rejected after Councilmember Stan Sofer opposed a vote saying he was afraid of “the polarization of our community and the negative publicity” a special election would generate.
Davis agreed with Sofer, saying he was afraid the general public wasn’t familiar enough with the issues involved to make an informed decision.
The workshop opened with a tour of the termite-infested, out-of-date and crammed existing City Hall. Silverboard led the tour followed by Davis with the city TV camera on his shoulder recording the entire meeting for broadcast on the local cable access channel.
Councilmember Mary Schoonover took copious notes on a legal pad as Silverboard pointed to “every nook and cranny” crammed full of supplies, office equipment and employee desks.
The copier in the police department section is the only one in the whole building, he pointed out. Then, he led the council members down a dark hallway lined with several small offices in what used to be holding cells.
In a five-bay garage next to the police station, Silverboard explained that the new City Hall plans wouldn’t have a garage for the police cars and other city vehicles loaded with hand tools now secured inside this garage. He said current plans call for the vehicles to be stored inside of a fenced facility with, perhaps, carports for shelter from the weather.
Honey, we’ve shrunk City Hall
When the City Council reconvened in its meeting room, Davis unveiled his proposed redesign of the new City Hall that would eliminate nearly 2,000 square feet from the 12,000-square-foot new building.
The mayor’s redesign shortens the proposed new council meeting room by 14 feet and cuts half of the area proposed for the police department.
The mayor proposed eliminating a woman’s locker room in the police department.
“It seems like every time we get a female officer … they go away,” Davis said.
Silverboard argued that this was a current situation, one that could change during the proposed building’s 30- to 50-year lifespan. He added that Davis’ plans would have a police sergeant and his guests walking through a storage room to get to the sergeant’s office.
“If you are going to make these changes, let the professionals, our architects, make the changes,” Silverboard said. “They are more familiar with what can be done in terms of infrastructure and what code standards like the Americans with Disabilities Act might come into play.”
The architects, led by Ward Friszolowski, who is also the mayor of St. Pete Beach, had reported that only one contractor had bid on a 20,000-square-foot library in Oldsmar and the cost was $301 per square foot.
City Finance Director Melanie Neumann minimized the effect a $4 million City Hall would have on property taxes. She pointed to an expected 18 percent increase in the city’s tax base this year because of rising property values.
Neumann reminded council members that, in addition to the $3 million the city has already borrowed for the new City Hall, there is another $1 million in reserves intended to help pay for the project. Also, she said, the city’s only debt would be paid off this year and the money borrowed for city hall would just replace that payment.
Davis and Rives said they understood Neumann’s arguments but were worried about the effect on property taxes in the future. Davis noted a number of capital projects the city has planned, including street repavings, rebuilding of the Harrison Street bridge and obtaining the county water tank property which the city now leases.
Silverboard countered that those projects were being spread out over a number of years so the tax rate wouldn’t take a hit in any one year.
The council decided unanimously to put off seeking bids for the new City Hall, to allow them to review Neumann’s financial projections and to disseminate information on the project’s cost to citizens.
“This is going to be paid for by 1,230 residences,” said Davis. “They need to know how much it is going to cost.”
To get information out, Davis said he would draft a slide show report on the project’s status to be placed on the city’s public access channel. He directed the architects to review his proposed cuts in the new building’s size and to report back to the council on whether it could be done and how much money would be saved.
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Article published on Thursday, July 6, 2006
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