Council will be voting tonight to approve a $2.6 million contract with architects to design a new City Hall. If this topic seems familiar, it's probably because it appeared on the July 9th agenda. You may have read my article titled "Where are we with the new City Hall?"
As a brief refresher, Council had been discussing plans to build a new City Hall, at a cost of $59-65 million. City staff recommended that they finance the project with Certificates of Participation, which would not require approval by the residents.
A group of concerned citizens formed a committee to ask Council to allow the tax payers to vote on so large an expenditure. They appeared at the May 14th Council meeting, and one by one, provided public comment asking that the matter be put to a vote. You can watch the comments at this link, starting at 1 hr, 50 minutes, or read the summaries provided by the City Clerk in the May 14th meeting minutes (p. 2).
The group proposed amending the City Charter to limit the amount Council could spend without a vote by citizens.
Note: Spending will be an on-going concern with the Heart of Golden because the proposed City Hall is only the first of many projects. Future plans include a parking garage across from the new building, demolition of the current City Hall, redeveloping that property into parkland, building a new History Museum, redeveloping that property into parkland, redesigning Lions Park, renovation of the public works building, and possibly building affordable housing on some of the property acquired from Coors.
Council's July 9th agenda called for them to approve a $2.6 million contract for an architecture firm to begin design work on the new City Hall. A subset of the citizens group appeared once again for public comment, asking Council to delay that decision until the citizens had discussed the proposed spending limit with some or all of the Councilors. Council agreed to delay the contract approval for two weeks.
Mayor Pro Tem Rob Reed met with a subgroup of the citizens, then discussed their proposal with fellow councilors. Council's counter-offer was to approve the $2.6 million contract tonight and the amend it later (for additional cost) so that the architects would also provide a Police Department-only building option. The two options (police only or full city hall) would be made available for public comment, but the ultimate spending decision would remain with City Council--no vote of the citizens.
This is not what the citizens group had proposed: they wanted expenditures over $15 million (including the $59-65 million City Hall) to be approved by the voters.
NOTE: I am not a member of the citizens group (nor a City Councilor), so my understanding comes from watching meetings, reading meeting packets, and reviewing correspondence. To form your own views on the ongoing discussion, read tonight's meeting packet, watch the May 14th and July 9th meetings, and tune in tonight!
WEIGH IN!
If you have questions or comments regarding city spending or the Heart of Golden project (including the proposed City Hall), you can email PublicComment@cityofgolden.net (preferably before 3PM) or attend the 6:30 meeting to provide comments in person.
