Richfield planning a new but still modest City Hall

Pipes burst, employees can barely hear because of the buzz of machinery, and fire rigs rust prematurely because of poor ventilation.

They're all reasons why next month, after years of study, Richfield's City Council is expected to vote to build a new City Hall.

The old one, which dates to about 1963, has "a lot of issues," said Pam Dmytrenko, assistant to the city manager. "Plumbing, electrical, water permeating, flooding... We're beyond 'do we need a new building?'

"We have high expectations for developers who come into the community. We need to meet our own standards and be a role model."

While architectural details are still fuzzy, plans call for a utilitarian $21.6-million building that has more space in public areas like the lobby, where residents now wait for services in a small space that sometimes gets uncomfortably full. Offices for the 164 people who work in City Hall also would be better designed.

"It's cube city in there," said Rick Jabs, who led two citizens' task forces that studied the City Hall issue. "It was not designed for that many people."

A new City Hall would not echo Bloomington's City Hall-community arts complex or other more elaborate new public buildings in other cities. While the building would be 87,500 square feet -- compared to the current City Hall's 52,000 square feet -- some 15,000 square feet would be underground parking for police cars.

Much of the other additional space would be used for community meeting rooms that would be open after hours.

Now, there is little meeting space in City Hall. In one of the main conference rooms, meetings are often interrupted by the loud flushing of a toilet on the other side of a wall.

A new building would take care of such basic problems, Dmytrenko said.

"Everybody who works here is cognizant of what the community can afford," she said. "Nobody wants to be ostentatious or grandiose. But it's important to provide a good working environment for employees and for customers, too."

Deficiencies are glaring

The task forces that studied replacing the current City Hall at 6700 Portland Av. S. concluded it would be cheaper to replace the building than to repair it, Jabs said.

The building has plenty of problems. In 2005, police employees had to rig tarps over their desks to catch water that was dripping through the ceiling from a leaky roof, which was later replaced. There have been concerns about mold and water damage. A rusted drainage pipe in a fire station bathroom burst, leaking into police offices below.

Elevators and some electrical systems use obsolete equipment. A few cramped offices are located next to rooms holding noisy computer servers or air exchangers.

The building also presents access problems for people with disabilities, Dmytrenko said. To get to departments that handle issues such as low-income housing and engineering, people in wheelchairs have to go outside and around the building and get buzzed into the building's lower level.

Police cars parked in an outside lot have occasionally been vandalized. New underground parking would protect the cars and the valuable equipment inside, extending the cars' usable life by at least a year, Dmytrenko said.

High humidity and poor ventilation in the fire station garage at City Hall have made fire rigs deteriorate faster than they should. The new garage would have better ventilation and drive-through bays, ending the practice of stopping traffic on Portland Avenue so fire trucks can back into the garage.

Some say scope too small

Plans call for any new building to go up near the old City Hall on the same site next to Heredia Park. The old building would stay open while the new one was built, and eventually the old one would be razed for a parking lot.

"The traffic flow is good, it's in the center of the city, it does not disrupt a business," Jabs said. "We did not want to infringe on our parks ... and the city already owns the site, so the land is already off the tax rolls."

City Council members seem to be behind the project. Mild dissent has come from member Bill Kilian, who supports the building of a new City Hall but said he wishes it could be at a different location and perhaps be more of a statement building for the city.

"I absolutely agree that we need a new City Hall, and if this is the only way we get it, I will support it," he said. "But I wish we were more forward-thinking. We have a downtown that people would like to see more done with ... I wish it were a more neighborhood-friendly design. But I'm not going to fight building it just because it doesn't meet my expectations."

If the project is approved, Jabs said Wold Architects and Engineers of St. Paul would produce a more detailed plan. He said there should be space in the halls and perhaps meeting rooms to incorporate history and art and "give a feel about who we are and what [Richfield] is all about."

A City Council decision on whether to proceed is tentatively scheduled for May 13. Any project likely would be financed with capital improvement bonds.

Mary Jane Smetanka • 612-673-7380