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Responding to questions from Mr. Poling, Mr. Penwell said that EWEB planned to stop steam service in <br />June 2012; the cost of converting the boilers in City Hall was about $500,000; and the cost of a full <br />building renovation was $30 million to $50 million. <br />Mr. Poling supported a phased approach. It demonstrated that the council was being a good steward of <br />public funds. The proposal also helped the City meet its commitment to leased downtown space. He <br />favored a new city hall that was attractive, economical, and efficient to use and wanted the City to <br />consolidate as many functions as possible in the new facility. Due to the staff analysis, he did not think it <br />would be wise to pursue the EWEB option. He believed that the EWEB site could be redeveloped into <br />something more useful to the community. <br />Mr. Brown also favored the existing site. He did not support the EWEB site because it was outside of <br />downtown and difficult to access. While he liked the idea of renovating the existing building, he <br />supported the staff recommendation. Mr. Brown asked the square footage requirements of the <br />departments that moved out, if they could all be accommodated in the Bennett project, what departments <br />would move back to the new building, their space requirements, and the size of the new city hall. City <br />Manager Ruiz indicated staff would provide that information when planning commenced. <br />Responding to a question from Mr. Brown, Mr. Poticha estimated the design studio proposals for <br />renovating City Hall would cost $30 million to $40 million to construct. Mr. Penwell said soft costs <br />would add an additional 35 percent. <br />Mr. Brown determined from Ms. Hammitt that $6 million remained in the Facility Reserve, and staff <br />proposed to return with a financing plan that identified other one -time funding sources. <br />Mr. Brown asked about the potential of federal grants for seismic retrofitting of City Hall or construction <br />of a new facility. Mr. Penwell said the City watched out for such opportunities. The City had received <br />one such grant to seismically retrofit a fire station and had applied for another grant to help with the costs <br />of retrofitting the new police headquarters. <br />Mr. Clark thanked staff for its hard work and good analysis. He recognized he did not have adequate <br />council support for acquisition of the EWEB site, but based on his conversations with residents and the <br />EWEB commissioners, Ile believed there was more community support for the site than councilors <br />realized. He did not think the City should give up on the option. <br />Mr. Pryor did not think the EWEB site was a bad idea and might have been a great idea at another time. <br />He thought the current site was simply better. He emphasized the importance of certainty that there <br />would be a new city hall to ensure staff did not remain in temporary space forever. He also wanted to <br />have more conversation about the vision produced by the design studio. Mr. Pryor thought that the full <br />square block on which City Hall was now located, already owned by the City, was the most viable option. <br />He wanted to see the best city hall that was reasonable and prudent built on the site. <br />Ms. Ortiz appreciated Mr. Poticha's presentation but she was not supportive of a renovated City Hall. <br />She pointed out that things change and past approaches to office space had been discarded in favor of <br />greener spaces that lent themselves to employee collaboration. She was excited about the possibility of a <br />new building that allowed City employees from different services to work together. <br />Mr. Farr acknowledged the resource that the University of Oregon and its students. were to the <br />community, and he thanked the design studio students. <br />MINUTES — Eugene City Council March 16, 2011 Page 2 <br />Work Session <br />