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Mayor Piercy said the council appeared to be interested in seeing additional information about the EWEB <br />site. It did not appear to her that the councilors willing to support the proposal were suggesting the EWEB <br />site was their preference. <br />City Manager Ruiz said staff had done a lot of analysis regarding remodeling of the current site and would <br />be happy to share that. Regarding the EWEB site, he said the current building was about 80,000 square. <br />feet and any expansion would require a new building. He was concerned about the price of the property <br />and believed that the location of the EWEB property was also a significant issue. He requested feedback <br />on the level of detail desired. <br />Mr. Clark, seconded by Ms. Taylor, moved to direct the City Manager return to the coun- <br />cil with a concept plans for City Hall and proposed financial strategies that include the <br />options of the current City Hall site and EWEB site. <br />Mr. Clark agreed with Ms. Ortiz about the need for fiscal responsibility. However, he did not think the <br />council knew which option was the most fiscally responsible. Based on what he knew now, it appeared <br />the EWEB site was the most fiscally responsible thing. He thought the council needed more information. <br />Mr. Clark pointed out that EWEB would receive more money for the building from a government agency <br />than a private entity, which would benefit the ratepayers. He also suggested that the purchase could <br />expand the scope of downtown, and envisioned that the existing structure could be used as a farmers <br />market. <br />Ms. Taylor did not want to spend staff time or money investigating the EWEB site. She believed the site <br />was too far from the rest of downtown. She said that the current site was proximate to the County and <br />public transit. It was easy for people to reach the current City Hall site by bicycle or bus. She also <br />objected to moving EWEB administrative functions because it would take its employees and customers <br />out of downtown. Ms. Taylor believed that there would be a big uproar when people realized that EWEB <br />was considering a new building given how relatively new the building was. <br />Speaking to the concept of building a city hall to last 100 years, Ms. Taylor observed that the current <br />building was not nearly that old, but staff was proposing to abandon it. She said any building would be <br />deteriorated if neglected. She suggested the potential of incremental building rehabilitation, with a focus <br />on safety- related improvements first. City Manager Ruiz pointed out the seismic improvements would <br />impact the walls and ceilings of the structure and would be difficult to accomplish without rehabilitating <br />the HVAC system or exterior building envelope. Mr. Penwell estimated it would cost at least $40 million <br />to rehabilitate the building, but the organization would still have a 46 -year old structure. <br />Mr. Pryor did not think the current city hall was intended to be a 100 -year building. <br />Speaking to the question of the level of detail desired in the analysis, Mr. Pryor suggested that the <br />appraisals done by McKenzie - Willamette Hospital be employed. He suggested another factor for the <br />council to consider was the time it would take to negotiate the sale of the EWEB site. However, he was <br />willing to explore the EWEB site without going into a lot of detail. He said the council would depend on <br />City and EWEB staffs being honest and candid with their assessment in making a final decision. <br />Mr. Brown believed that staff could review the reports already produced by EWEB. He did not think staff <br />needed to spend a lot of time on the analysis. <br />MINUTES— Eugene City Council September 8, 2010 Page 7 <br />Work Session <br />