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<br />Mr. Zelenka maintained that, in the absence of any plans to demolish the building, the current City Hall <br />facility should be retrofitted to life safety standards regardless of the City’s future plans for the building. <br />Mr. Zelenka felt that a downtown police patrol substation facility would essentially be an empty police <br />garage and did not support such a strategy. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka commented that re-using an existing building such as the Country Club Road building was a <br />good course of action. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka agreed that a VA clinic located downtown might warrant the expansion of the urban renewal <br />district boundaries. <br /> <br />Mr. Pryor felt that the current City Hall facility was antiquated, unattractive and inefficient, and did not <br />believe that it would be advisable to devote any significant amount of money toward its continued use <br />although he agreed that it would be worthwhile to spend the money necessary to bring the building up to <br />life safety standards for the safety of City employees working in it. <br /> <br />Mr. Pryor felt that moving the City Hall offices into the civic center might only serve as a temporary <br />solution. <br /> <br />Ms. Ortiz believed that the EPD needed to be housed in a separate facility from City Hall and agreed that it <br />might be worthwhile to expand the urban renewal district boundaries if a VA clinic was indeed being <br />considered near the downtown area. <br /> <br />Ms. Piercy believed that the current City Hall facility was an “energy sieve” and that the continued use of <br />the building ran counter to the sustainability and environmental directions of the City. <br /> <br />Mr. Clark noted that he was not a fan of urban renewal but that the City should support efforts to have a <br />VA clinic in the downtown area. <br /> <br />Mr. Clark expressed that he did not want the City to lose out on an opportunity to obtain a usable building <br />at a reasonable price. <br /> <br /> Mr. Clark, seconded by Ms. Solomon, moved to direct the City Manager to bring back to the City <br /> Council by May 11, 2009, information regarding what would be required to secure an option on <br /> the County Club Road building concurrent to ongoing council discussions regarding the <br /> building’s use as a potential EPD facility. <br /> <br />Mr. Brown felt that the issue of exploring the purchase of an option on the Country Club Road building <br />was not a time-sensitive issue. Mr. Clark responded that there had been incidents in the past where the City <br />might have obtained properties at a more favorable price if it had not hesitated and that his motion was <br />intended only to provide information regarding what would be required to purchase the option. <br /> <br />Mr. Ruiz noted that staff could probably collect the information regarding an option to purchase the <br />Country Club Road building by the date specified in Mr. Clark’s motion and further noted that staff would <br />let the council know if it appeared that it would not be possible to collect and review the information within <br />the time specified. <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council April 22, 2009 Page 6 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />