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Mr. Brown asked if council action on the recommendation could be referred to a ballot. Mr. Klein said the council <br />could choose to place a measure on the ballot, but unless it voluntarily agreed to do so, the council could take <br />action such that they could not be referred. Mr. Brown believed that if the council failed to refer its action to the <br />voters it would destroy the council's credibility even further and would be a terrible mistake. <br />Speaking to the question of what would happen to City Hall if the police moved out, Mr. Poling suggested that was <br />part of the future process. He said if the City Council decided to bring other functions back to City Hall if the <br />police moved out, he would be willing to give up his office space, which he did not use and which was a project <br />that had cost much more than initially envisioned. <br />Speaking to Mr. Brown's concern about the airport fire station, Mr. Poling pointed out that the City was in the <br />process of building a new station with the use of federal stimulus money as well as from other sources. <br />Mr. Poling said the public voted down new taxes, not necessarily a new police facility. Subsequently, the City <br />Council had begun to set aside the money. The City had the need and opportunity to use the money as intended, <br />and the council had the right to make the decision about the expenditure. Mr. Poling believed that the space issue <br />was one of the hard decisions the council had to make. He said the council could "dance around" the issue and <br />have a "chicken and egg" discussion but he thought it needed to "step up to the plate" and make a decision. <br />Mr. Zelenka reiterated that the issue for him was not about the police patrol but about City Hall and all the <br />functions in City Hall. He said he supported referring a measure to the ballot if it addressed only the police <br />facility. He considered the recommendation a plan to deal with all the functions in City Hall. He reiterated that <br />the civic center concept had a lot of appeal to him given the activity it would create within a one- to two -block <br />period. Mr. Zelenka thought there were many things the City could do with the existing building and expressed <br />interest in Ms. Ortiz's suggestion for a park. However, he suggested the City needed the money the building's sale <br />would realize. Mr. Zelenka wanted to avoid creating another pit. <br />Mr. Zelenka did not think all buildings needed to be preserved. Sometimes it was time for buildings to go. That <br />left the question of where to locate the police, which was a service with special needs. Very few buildings fit those <br />needs, and to build a new building would cost $34 million. Mr. Zelenka said that the City could get the functional- <br />ity for less than half that amount, and he wanted to explore the concept in more detail. <br />Mr. Zelenka acknowledged that he did not think the police needed to be downtown. He said that if the City built a <br />new police facility, it would be basically be a "ghost garage." If the police were doing their jobs right, they would <br />not be in the building, and he did not think a "ghost garage" was the best use of space downtown. He believed the <br />police presence could be provided through a police substation. He found the Country Club Road building <br />interesting because it met seismic standards, was located on a Lane Transit District bus line, was proximate to I- <br />105, was essentially a shell, the needed technology could be easily put in place and the building had adequate <br />parking. <br />Ms. Taylor asked why the City needed a police facility if there was no one there. She said that took her back to the <br />suggestion for take -home cars. <br />Ms. Taylor believed City Hall was falling apart because the City had not maintained it. She said the City needed to <br />do the basic seismic upgrade of the building if anyone was to use it. She preferred to rehabilitate and reuse City <br />Hall and construct a basic office building in the parking lot across the street for the rest of the staff. She did not <br />think the City needed to embark on an expensive public input process and recalled a two -day event the City held <br />several years ago, during which several people advocated for rehabilitation of City Hall, but after it was over <br />nobody remembered that. Ms. Taylor thought City Hall could be made to look good, and commended the plantings <br />outside the City Manager's Office. She preferred to spend the money to make City Hall look decent and be safe. <br />MINUTES —City Council May 11, 2009 Page 9 <br />Work Session <br />