Item 3A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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considered a high risk seismically. While he liked the EWEB site, it was in the floodplain and was less centrally located than the current City Hall site, and he did not want to move additional City functions out of downtown. Mr. Pryor was willing to support Mr. Clark’s desire to explore the details of the EWEB site in the spirit of open mindedness. However, he believed that the current site was the best site given it was already owned by the City, was a full block, and was centrally located. He thought the City would have to spend an enormous amount to rehabilitate City Hall but that would result only in an old building with improved heating and air conditioning that would not fall down in an earthquake. He did not think that was a building to serve the community into the future. Mr. Pryor agreed it was important to get staff out of City Hall. He suggested that relocating staff would “start a clock running” on a new structure. Mr. Pryor acknowledged Mr. Clark’s point about competition on the ballot, and reiterated his support for renewing the City’s street bond measure. Ms. Ortiz did not think it was fiscally responsible to purchase the EWEB property and did not think EWEB was being responsible in considering a move of its administrative functions, which would increase rates. She said that now was not the time to ask the ratepayers and taxpayers to do more. Ms. Ortiz said that the City needed to fulfill its commitment to downtown redevelopment. She considered EWEB’s riverfront property to be a pearl and prefer that it be retained as green space or redeveloped along the model of the Portland waterfront. Responding to a question from Ms. Ortiz about the first rights of refusal for the EWEB property, Mr. Klein said that EWEB would first need to make a formal declaration of its interest in selling, and the City would have 30 days to indicate interest, followed by five years to negotiate an agreement. If the City did not express interest, EWEB could dispose of the property as it wished. Mr. Poling concurred with Mr. Pryor about the importance of the street bond measure and feared that placing renewal of that measure as well as a bond measure for a new city hall would be “treading on thin ice.” Mr. Poling said he would not object to moving out all the employees now in City Hall to rented space right away because of the poor and unsafe working conditions, but that left the question of what to do with the structure. Mr. Poling was willing to look at more information about the EWEB property to see which site was the better financial choice. Mr. Zelenka tied the issue of a new city hall to whether it was a good business decision to invest in the current building, and he thought the question had already been answered. He was somewhat interested in the EWEB property but thought the costs of rehabilitating the site were understated. He also questioned whether EWEB would chose to build a new administrative facility. He suggested the EWEB property could still serve as a civic center under another scenario. Mr. Zelenka requested a financial option included in the analysis that would allow the City to look at a privately built and financed building that it could then lease. That would avoid the need to bond, and the City could pay for it either out of existing operating revenues or through a new levy. MINUTES—City Council September 8, 2010 Page 6 Work Session