Ark Valley News - Park City approves $1 million transfer for new city hall/police building

Park City approves $1 million transfer for new city hall/police building
By David Dinell
Last Updated: April 30, 2015

A proposal to transfer $1 million from a reserve fund to the capital improvement fund sparked a prolonged discussion at the April 28 Park City council meeting.

The intent of the move is to sharpen the financial picture facing the city as it looks to build a new city hall and police station.

The move wouldn't necessarily be permanent because, if for some reason the money was needed in another area, it could be transferred again. However, the proposal set off a debate among council members about the timing of the proposed construction.

Mayor Ray Mann was firm about the need to get moving on the project.

"As we keep postponing this project, the dollar amount rises," he said.

The cost of the complex, which would be on city-owned land along 61st North by the library, is $4.9 million. There is now about $1.5 million available for it; the transfer would raise that amount to $2.5 million.

The transfer is coming from what is known as the MTBE Reserve Funds, money that the city received in a lawsuit.

The proposal ended up passing by a 6-2 vote, with George Glover and Melvin Kerr voting no. George Capps was almost on their side, and even hesitated for a second before voting yes.

Capps said that "we all support a new city hall," but he voiced concerns about the budget, especially if a shortfall resulted in cutting staff.

"I don't want to lay off people," he said. "That was tough. I want us to use caution."

The fact that the money could be retrieved if needed reassured him, and cause him to go with the ayes.

But said Glover: "I'm real hesitant to do it at this point."

Glover said he's seen a number of empty buildings in town, along with residents leaving and is concerned about the city's revenue situation. The issue, he said, should be put to the voters to let them decide.

From Kerr's perspective, he doesn't see much new income coming in the city and said the city has a lot of other needs, including streets. While he didn't disagree with the need for a new police station, it would be better to have smoother streets than a new city hall at this time — and people would notice them more, too, he said.

Gary Aldrich disagreed with Kerr and said that people do notice city hall and the image it projects of a city while Tom Jones said the current city hall has more than its share of problems — and they're not going away.

"We just keep putting Band-Aids on this," he said.

Repeatedly, Mann stressed his desire for action.

"We see the need for city hall, but we are kicking the can down the road," he said. "In seven or eight years, this could be a $10 million project."

He said Bel Aire got its new city hall built several years back at less than half the price of Park City's proposal.

He found support with John Lehnherr.

"Now is not the time to back out," he said.

The city has selected WDM Architects as the design firm and already spent about $260,000 on the building's plans.

In a related move, the council approved a special meeting to discuss the plans. That meeting is at 6:30 p.m. May 5 at City Hall.