Public Hearing to be Held November 19
On Thursday, October 30, the city of Council held a special meeting at City Hall to discuss the final plat for the Industrial Subdivision. Mayor Bruce Gardner and all city council members, with the exception of Council member Dan Huter, were in attendance, as were several Adams County employees, including Prosecuting Attorney Peter Donovan, Adam Balderson with Road and Bridge, and County Commissioner Daren Ward.
Mayor Gardner called the meeting to order and Mendy Stanford motioned to approve the final plat. All present were in favor. Next, they addressed improvements to Building A, (directly north of city hall) which Adams County was planning to purchase, but would like to start making improvements before the sale is finalized so they can complete certain items before winter arrives. The county is planning to use the building for Road and Bridge, and needs to install larger bay doors so they can get certain equipment inside. Balderson explained that they are not necessarily looking to install the doors before the purchase, but it will be necessary to move some of the HVAC and fire suppression system to make way for the doors, and they would like to start on that as soon as possible. Attorney Donovan said he would be working with the city attorney to get something written up to protect both parties. Commissioner Ward asked if there was a timeline for when they were looking at completing the sale. City Clerk Ashley Scott answered “November 19.” She said their plan of action was to record the plat that day, and next they had to hold a public hearing and give notice for that. She was looking to schedule the hearing for November 19 and they should be able move forward after that. “Perfect,” said Ward, “I know from the county’s perspective we’re ready to make this happen.” The city council didn’t see any problems and made a motion to make improvements to the building and authorize the attorney to work with the county on a document.
Next, the county was inquiring about a lower price for Building B (former Starkey offices east of City Hall), which the county also had plans to purchase. Both parties had previously already agreed on a lower price due to the presence of mold. The price to just mediate the mold was going to be around $89,000, which included taking out the drop ceiling, replacing all the ducting, taking out flooring, and more. Commissioner Daren Ward elaborated “so basically, just to get us remediated from mold is $90,000 but then we’re left with a shell.” He said they were trying to preserve as much of the county funds as possible to try and make it a useful building. He said they have the money to buy the building and remediate, but are trying to preserve a little to be able to at least open one end of the building right away for elections. “I guess it’s just that plea to see if there’s anything we can do to bring that price down a little more.”
Everyone lamented the state of the building and discussed some of the problems that led to the water intrusion. Ashley Scott mentioned that the whole sprinkler system was shot at that point as well. Council member Dave Tubridy asked if the county should present a figure and Commissioner Ward said that he didn’t want to insult them, but they were thinking somewhere in the $120,000 range. The city council briefly discussed the number among themselves and then Mayor Gardner said “Alright.”
Ward said thank you and said he was going to be the project manager. “It truly will be a great addition to the county,” he added. He let them know they were planning on relocating some of the offices from the county into the new building and also had private businesses that were asking about using some of the space. There will also be two larger public meeting rooms and Ward extended to the city the offer to use one in the future if they ever needed a larger meeting room. They have talked to the sheriff about one being the emergency operation center since it was wired for everything. Council member Dave Tubridy said at least the silver lining was they couldn’t replace the building for that cost, “I think it’s a win-win actually.” Ward agreed and said there was a part of him that didn’t want to come and ask for the price to be lowered, but ultimately it was everyone’s tax money and will benefit both the city and the county in the long run.
