The Library and City Hall project was again one of the top items of discussion at Monday’s Carroll City Council meeting. City Manager, Mike Pogge-Weaver asked them to consider seeking proposals from area property owners to house both the city offices and the library during the renovation of the Farner Government Building and the Commercial Savings Bank building on North Adams.
The lease proposal would require a minimum of 13,000 square feet to house both or at least 2,200 square feet for the city offices and no less than 8,000 square feet for the library if they were to be housed separately. Pogge-Weaver says that timing of this is going to be an important factor.
When it comes to the interruption of services at the library during a phased construction project or a temporary relocation, council member, Mike Kots, asked if programming would be negatively impacted. Library Director, Rachel Van Erdewyk, says that they are already planning summer programs, but the majority of those are held off-site in larger spaces throughout the community. There would be no change to that. The Request for Proposal (RFP) document that will be available for distribution to area property owners outlines the requirements and the method the city will use to evaluate a property. Carolyn Siemann brought up the way that the criteria would be weighted in the evaluations and suggested a reallocation of the percentages.
The council agreed to take the 10 percentage points assigned for site availability and add it to the lease price ranking at 15 percent, raising the weight of that category to 25 percent of the evaluation criteria. The council is looking for proposals on a minimum of two years, with an 18 month term turning to a month-by-month renewal after that. Once RFPs are returned, the council will have a price comparison to see if they would be able to save on phasing and inflationary costs for construction. The council approved the disbursement of RFPs as soon as possible with a return deadline date of Monday, Oct. 2 by 1 p.m. Anyone interested in providing a lease proposal or who would like more information can contact Pogge-Weaver at city hall by calling 792-1000.
