KALAMA — Renovation of Kalama City Council to fit more staff and improve the building’s energy efficiency moved forward Thursday, after the Kalama City Council approved an architect ranking for the project.
The city received nine proposals and ranked the top four, with HBX Studio of Portland topping the list.
Kalama City Hall
City of Kalama, Contributed
City staff moved into the current City Hall building almost a decade ago but have yet to renovate the second floor. As a result, the upstairs can’t be used for offices or meeting space, leaving City Council to still meet in the previous City Hall, which now houses the library.
State law establishes a specific process governmental agencies must use to hire architectural and engineering services. After reviewing and ranking the firms, the city can negotiate a contract, going down the list if it can’t reach an agreement with the top firms, said City Administrator Adam Smee.
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The design cost will hopefully be under the $50,000 the council budgeted for it last fall, Smee said. If the design is completed by the end of the year, the city can budget for construction in 2024 based on the architect’s cost estimate, he said. The project will hopefully be wrapped up by the beginning of 2025.
Holding off on going out to bid until the design is completed gives the city more flexibility to make decisions based on a more accurate cost estimate, Smee said. However, construction costs will likely escalate if the city waits too long, he said.
Smaller-scale project, growing needs
The city bought the old Heritage Bank on First Street in 2014, with plans to upgrade the aging building. The cost of a full renovation — including moving the council chambers and department head offices to the second floor — would likely be in the millions, Smee said previously.
The city doesn’t have enough money for that but has set aside enough in real estate excise taxes for the smaller-scale project, the staff told the council last fall. The tax revenue can only be used for capital improvements.
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The city will potentially need to add one finance/clerical staff person in the next two to three years, Smee said. The new design would ideally include space for a full time city planner based on the increasing level of development in the community, he added.
“I think we’re going to pass the tipping point for fees with consultants so that it will be cheaper to bring somebody in the house,” Smee said.
The city could also add a staff engineer or move the public works director’s office to City Hall in the near future, Smee said.
Along with making the space more suitable for current staff, the renovation project will address the building’s energy efficiency. While City Hall has a working furnace and air conditioning, the single-pane windows let air escape, Smee said. Work will also include asbestos abatement.
Council member Steve Kallio asked if the architect could look into designing a meeting room upstairs to maximize space on the first floor and help fix what he called an unpleasant second floor.
“I can foresee outgrowing it again and do this all this over again,” he said. “While they’re in there and already tearing everything apart, … maybe just a meeting room on the one side of the hallway that’s not quite as horrifying as the rest of it.”
Smee agreed to include the proposal as a design alternative to at least get an idea of the cost.