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Ms. Bettman shared the mayor's interest in the idea to renovate City Hall that had been raised at the design <br />charette. She questioned how a transition to a new city hall would happen, how much time that would take, <br />and how that impacted the financing. City Manager Taylor agreed that project phasing was an issue. Ms. <br />Bettman asked for some "ballpark" projections. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman said that in terms of financial strategies, the "simpler the better." She preferred the "Competi- <br />tive Bid" and "Competitive Sealed Proposals" construction methods as they would give the public an idea of <br />how the project would look. She thought the council needed to give the public a good reason to vote yes, <br />and that meant presenting a well-defined project. <br /> <br />Mr. Pap6 agreed with Ms. Bettman's remarks regarding the need for a well-defined project. He did not <br />agree with Ms. Taylor about the current City Hall. Although he thought the renovation idea was interesting, <br />he also thought it would be very costly. He had no desire to maintain the facility in its current condition as it <br />was obsolete and could not easily accommodate new technology. No one knew where the front door was. It <br />did not serve the public well. If it was to be preserved and not remodeled, the building should be sold. <br /> <br />Mr. Pap~ suggested the council visit some of the sites listed by staff to see what different communities had <br />done. <br /> <br />Mr. Meisner wanted the organization to act as efficiently as possible and did not want staff in many different <br />locations. He reminded the council that the City built a fourth floor on the library for expansion by bonding <br />against the rents of the Information Services and Finance divisions, and further noted those services would <br />need a new home in ten years when the space was needed for library services. <br /> <br />Mr. Meisner wanted to ensure that space planning was done in conjunction with service planning and <br />projections. He did not want to build a civic center complex for services the City was in the process of <br />contracting and reducing on an annual basis. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor agreed with Mr. Pap~ that a field trip would be a good idea. Speaking to the issue of the <br />existing City Hall, she said she did not want to discard a building that could still be used, and pointed out the <br />acoustics were better in the McNutt Room than in the new Bascom-Tykeson Room at the library. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey agreed about the acoustics of the library meeting room. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman also endorsed the idea of a field trip. She asked for some information about City Hall, and <br />whether it could be renovated and reused. She questioned the building's marketability in light of Mr. Papa's <br />comments. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman said she would like to see council offices included in a new city hall, which she thought would <br />help the council to serve the community better. <br /> <br />Mr. Svendsen indicated the primary issue related to the renovation of the existing city hall was that of cost. <br />He said he would return with information on that issue. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey questioned whether the City could find a better site for a new city hall than the site of the <br />existing City Hall. <br /> <br />MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 28, 2004 Page 4 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />