Administration recommends prioritizing police-station renovation over building a new city hall

Autumn Monahan, the city’s administrative services director, recommended that the city pause plans to build a new city hall and instead use a council bond and public-safety sales-tax proceeds to fund a multi-year renovation of the existing police station. “Administration is proposing that we do not pursue construction of a new city hall and that to pay for the remodel of our police station that we leverage a councilmatic bond and pay for that debt service using some proceeds from the public safety sales tax,” Monahan said.

Monahan told the council that outside estimates for police renovations range from $15 million to $26 million and that a midpoint financing example would be roughly $21 million supported by about $1.5 million a year in debt service on a 20-year bond; she emphasized the numbers are preliminary and depend on further scoping and design work by DLR Group. She also said building a new city hall on the two sites studied would run substantially higher — roughly $44 million to $57 million depending on site and scope — and that administration prefers buying and renovating an existing building for city-hall functions if an appropriate property becomes available.

Why it matters: the recommendation shifts the near-term capital focus to public-safety infrastructure and attempts to limit a large taxpayer-funded new-construction ask while preserving options for future city-hall siting. Monahan said one-time revenues that could help with relocating administration include proceeds from the sale of the City Hall Northwest building, $3.1 million set aside from the Lakeside Development Agreement for facility use, government mitigation fees, and interest earnings; she described those as one-time rather than recurring funds.

Council members pressed for more precision. Council Member Nichols asked for square-footage and per-square-foot cost justifications and requested “bookend” options that show a minimal, mid- and high-end scope so the council can weigh trade-offs. Council Member Walsh said he remains “on the path that we need a new city hall” but asked that staff present multiple remodel options and cautioned against long-term leasing without equity. Deputy State Administer Andrea Leonard told the council that earlier estimates for the public-safety sales tax were roughly $2.1–$2.2 million annually but warned that state legislative exemptions could change that picture.

Monahan acknowledged outstanding questions and said the next formal step is re-engaging DLR Group for a refined building-layout and project-schedule analysis, with a building-renovation concept report and cost refinements planned for upcoming quarters. She committed to provide a clearer cost breakdown showing which portions of the estimate are police-specific security and operational upgrades versus general midlife building rehabilitation.

The council did not take a formal vote. Members broadly supported prioritizing police operational needs and asked staff to return with detailed, itemized cost options, grant and funding-source clarifications (including how interest earnings and Lakeside proceeds have been used), and an explicit accounting of trade-offs between police renovations and other public-safety or capital needs.