The HTML0 Juneau Assembly is one step closer to putting an additional City Hall bond to the ballot in October.
In a Monday night meeting, Assembly members expressed support for a bond worth $27 million proposal. The voters narrowly rejected last year’s plan to issue the $35 million bond.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”We didn’t seem to present ourselves in the best light this year, when we didn’t allocate funds to support that project.” city manager Rorie Watt spoke to Assembly the members of Monday. “If we’re planning to move forward, we have to better position ourselves to make the case for the that are behind the project. .”
Watt states there are a variety of issues with the current space. City Hall needs substantial upgrades and is too small to accommodate all city employees. In addition, the city is paying $820,000 annually to rent offices in other buildings and one of these buildings is plagued by plumbing issues.
Watt has suggested that the Assembly invest $10 million in the project within the budget for this year. This would allow them to lower bonds from $35 million down to $27 million. The governor also suggests spending $50,000 to educate the public about the necessity of a new building.
It’s not the first time that the city had to return a proposition to the voters after it was rejected in the first attempt. Ballot measures to fund construction projects such as Downtown parking garages, Marine Park expansion and the Treadwell Ice Arena have all been successful when the city restructured the way they were funded as well as the size.
” style=”font-weight font-weight: 400 ;”>”When the people say no to us but it doesn’t mean there’s the end of time on any variant — it just means that you didn’t do it right this time around,” Watt said. “We know that we have an extensive tradition of trying to figure out the perfect balance of what voters are looking for. .”
At the Monday meeting, Assembly member Wade Bryson suggested reducing the amount of bond to $4 million. This is the estimated cost for construction of underground parking at the city’s new hall.
It’s a style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”I am convinced that it’s crucial to get rid of the parking lot and demonstrate that we can limit the scale of the structure,” Bryson said. “Asking voters to vote for $23 million will be a hell of a lot simpler .”
The committee opted to keep the underground parking funding. The ideal site for the city hall is close to Centennial Hall and the Zach Gordon Youth Center and committee one of the members Michelle Hale said she didn’t wish to restrict parking within the city.
span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”We do not have the chance to construct an entire building and then put parking underneath it all the time,” she said.
The Assembly will propose an ordinance to place an investment bond of $27 million on the ballot for June 12. The public are invited to make comments during the July 10 meeting.
