STEVENS POINT – After decades of negotiations and debate, city leaders on Aug. 18 approved construction of a new estimated $17.4 million city hall.
After over 40 minutes of discussion Monday night, the Stevens Point Common Council voted 8-3 to approve building the new city hall at 1039 Ellis St. Council members cited a city hall relocation process that has taken decades to reach a decision point, a continuation of recent positive collaboration with the Portage County Board, and a need to provide a facility that city staff and officials can most effectively perform their work as reasons for their support.
“A year or two ago when the County Board started working more collaboratively and cooperatively both within the County Board and with the city, I was really excited,” Ginger Keymer, District 3 alderperson, said in the meeting. “I know these needs for the county courthouse and the jail and city hall, I mean, it’s been decades in the making.”
In May, the Common Council and County Board reached a land swap agreement that traded the city’s 27% stake in the current courthouse/city hall building and some smaller nearby properties for 1039 Ellis St. and a majority of properties surrounding it. The former occupant of 1039 Ellis St., CREATE Portage County, moved in April into renovated space at the former Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis convent on Maria Drive.
Renovation option had higher cost, additional risks
The council considered two options for a city hall building on the property presented by Green Bay-based Somerville Architects and Engineers. The new construction option had a high-end estimated cost about $2 million less than the renovation option that would have retained the current former factory building on the property.
“Nothing makes sense on the renovation side of things. I feel like we’re throwing good money after bad going that route,” Sam Lang, District 9 alderperson, said in discussion. While both options included unknown costs for site contamination remediation, the remodel plan had the potential to find more hidden issues with the building that could have brought even more significant costs.
Before becoming the location for CREATE Portage County, the building was renovated nine times over almost 100 years with the most recent adding the modern exterior walls and windows, according to Justin Marquis, Somerville project architect.
The property was previously occupied by an automobile repair garage before the former Weber Tackle Company factory was built in 1928, according to discussion in the meeting and the Portage County Historical Society. These former uses indicate possible soil contamination beneath the existing building but the extent of contamination cannot be known until digging begins.
Mayor outlines other locations considered for city hall
Mayor Mike Wiza gave an outline during the meeting of the recent history of negotiations between Portage County and the city for a resolution to space needs for each entity at the shared courthouse/city hall building.
The city considered other locations prior to moving forward with the land swap with the county for 1039 Ellis St. that included both city-owned properties like 1101 Centerpoint Drive and the former Shopko property and non-city-owned properties such as the Chase Bank property at 601 Main St., Executive Place at 1265 Main St. and Associated Bank property at 1305 Main St., Wiza said.
Each of these properties had several drawbacks compared to 1039 Ellis St., including lack of city ownership of some of the properties, either too much or too little space for city needs, lack of parking options for visitors, staff and city-owned vehicles, and significant renovation costs, Wiza explained.
“I think if there were better options available we would have found them by now,” Keymer said. “A lot of the buildings ended up not being available or did not have critical amenities for a city hall.”
Some alderpersons seeks more information, question unknowns
Several alderpersons, including the three dissenting votes from the District 1, District 9 and District 10, expressed desires for more information on possible efficiencies in city operations in the new facility, other existing building options in the city, and increasing construction costs on top of unknown costs for remediation.
“This is an expensive option and it could go even higher,” Marc Christianson, District 1 alderperson, said. “We know there’s a lot of unknowns and so with potential contamination from an auto repair, a dry cleaner, from underground storage tanks. As the mayor mentioned, anytime you crack open the ground you don’t know for sure where you’re going to be sitting.”
What happens next?
The plan will now move into a schematic design phase that will produce more specific floor plan designs, Wiza told a Stevens Point Journal reporter after the meeting. These plans will be presented to the council and city residents with opportunities for feedback in future meetings.
The new address for city hall will be on Water Street, Wiza said, with the address number to be decided later. The two non-publicly-owned adjacent properties are 1447 Water St. and 1475 Water St.
Erik Pfantz covers local government and education in central Wisconsin for USA TODAY NETWORK – Wisconsin and values his background as a rural Wisconsinite. Contact him at epfantz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Stevens Point Journal: Stevens Point Common Council approves building new $17.4M city hall at 1039 Ellis St.
Reporting by Erik Pfantz, Stevens Point Journal / Stevens Point Journal
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