By Carrie Moritz, Gazette
City Hall plans going back to the drawing board
"Well, we have a swimming pool."
This was said by Councilor Greg Franka at the Monday, May 8 meeting of the Garretson City Council. The meeting was fairly routine, until the final two items on the agenda were broached. In the first, the council continued its discussion on the site plans for a city hall/events center, and in the second, they reviewed a purchase agreement for the Garretson Community Swimming Pool.
Last month, a special meeting was held to update the council on where plans for the city hall/events center were at, now that the land acquisition was complete south of Sarah C Street. The resulting price tag of $9 million and feedback from residents and city employees caused council members to step back and re-examine those proposals.
On Monday at their regular meeting, the council again discussed site plans for the project, and examined whether moving city hall, building an events center and community center, and keeping the project going in phases was truly appropriate.
Councilor Tom Godbey began by asking when it had been decided that City Hall would be moved to South Main, to which councilor Hoskins responded that it wasn't a firm decision. Discussion ensued about the practicality of having the building so far from downtown.
"For what it's worth...I think we should go back to the drawing board," said Councilor Greg Franka, who pointed out that he's always been against having two buildings for City Hall and an events/community center. "The idea of having a city hall down south, though, is a poor idea."
           He continued by noting that an events center isn't necessarily a need, nor was an indoor walking track. He pointed out the Legion's ability to be a community center, the revamping of the athletic complex, and the newly-moved fitness center. "I think what we need to do is have them take a look at building city hall right where it is."
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Chase Tempel, owner of The Exercise Place, was in attendance and spoke up in agreement. Given the go-ahead by the council to continue, Tempel noted that he and his wife, Bailey, had plans to increase the size of the fitness center within the next 4-to-5 years. He is re-vamping the old Exercise Place building on Main with plans to make that viable for business, and questioned if having the municipality build a facility would cut out small business opportunities.
"We have plans to help the community out," he said.
Councilor Jackie Rotert spoke on the need for more housing development as a priority.
"I personally think we need to start there... before we build this big events center," Rotert said.
Councilor Bruce Brown strongly agreed with her assessment, and Councilor Bill Hoskins pointed out other priorities the city needs to address before spending $9 million on a city hall/events center building. However, a new city hall is a necessity (the current one has far outlived its lifespan and has some major structural issues).
All other council members appeared to be in agreement that housing development needed to come before an events center, and planning for that should take priority.
Given the need for a new city hall building, the council opted to move forward on firming up the building plans on just City Hall without an events center or community center, on the land at 705 N Main.
The council will be able to further cement development plans for the newly-acquired land as they put together the 5-year plan, though they stated during the meeting that if a developer was to make a reasonable offer now, that they would consider it. However, they plan to prioritize housing and to approach this development more purposefully than the east Sarah C Street development.
"It would be an okay place for an events center," said Brown, referring to the land on South Main, "but downtown is where city hall belongs."
City purchases swimming pool
The Garretson Community Swimming Pool has been owned and run by the Garretson Pool Association since its inception. However, due to several factors, the Pool Board approached the city earlier this year to inquire whether the municipality would be interested in purchasing the pool, and having it be run as a city entity.
Since the city has been slowly acquiring many of the responsibilities of the pool over the past few years, the only projected change was that city employees would now be in charge of hiring lifeguards.
At the council meeting on Monday, the board voted to move ahead with a purchase agreement to purchase the pool for $1. No changes should be seen by the public for this summer's program.
