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Community Center and Pioneer Hall Ad-Hoc Committee (View All)

Community Center and Pioneer Hall Ad-Hoc Committee Minutes - 6/25/21

Agenda
Friday, June 25, 2021

Community Center and Pioneer Hall Ad-Hoc Committee
MEETING #1 APPROVED MINUTES
Pioneer Hall Courtyard 
Friday, June 25, 2021
9:00-11:00 a.m.
 
Present: George Kramer, Gil Livni, Christopher Brown, Shaun Moran, Adam Hanks, Stefani Seffinger, Kaylea Kathol, Kevin Caldwell
 
  1. < >All present introduced themselves.
     
    Adam Hanks: discussed high level scope of task force.  Explained City already investigated a full rehabilitation [K.K. clarification – that is, structural safety, accessibility, and mechanical improvements as needed] per the direction of previous Council.  Current Council charged staff with exploring the “other end of the spectrum”, or the minimum updates needed to safely return the public to the buildings.  The task force was appointed to develop such a recommendation.  Hanks stated the task force should formally establish its mission and should develop a schedule.  This recommendation will also help City determine the long-term ownership. 
     
    Kramer: acknowledged the tasks force role that they were chiefly focused on structural repairs to achieve minimum safety.  Sought confirmation that Pioneer Hall would only be used for daytime activities, no overnight use that would change the occupancy classification.  Hanks confirmed.
     
    Kramer: suggested this process would work best if a walkthough occurred, followed by unfettered access to achieve more thorough exploration of structures.
     
    Livni: followed up on Kramer’s suggestion, indicating he would like to bring his crew to the buildings
     
    Hanks: unfettered access to individuals not part of the task force is not doable.  The City would need to know who, when, and what they desired to accomplish.  Then staff can navigate the access question.
     
    Brown: requested clarification on what the final outcome of the commission would be, e.g. a subjective set of qualifications? A cost of construction?
     
    Adam: explained the task force will need to define the outcome.  It has not yet been established.
     
    Kramer:  envisions involving the City’s building official, discussion the feasibility of potential solutions with him, and providing a rough range of costs for the feasible solutions
     
    Kathol: explained the task force are a legal advisory committee to City Council and are appointed City officials.  As such, the task force should understand conflicts of interest that could arise.  In participating in this committee, members are excluding themselves from future competitive bidding opportunities that may arise from any recommendations they make.
     
    Livni: asked whether the conflict of interest rules still apply if the project were to be privately funded, not with tax dollars but with a gift from a potential doner.  Would this project have to be competitively bid if private funding was available?  Kathol was unsure and would need to follow up with the City attorney and APRC (they are in the process of doing a privately funded job at Japanese Garden).
 
  1. PROJECT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
    Kathol briefly discussed the City’s priorities for both buildings.  Greatest concerns were structural integrity and ADA access, specifically restroom access and safe egress.  Other code issues (e.g. HVAC) were priorities of the City’s if they needed to be addressed. 
    Kramer asked to meet with building official to discuss his specific reason for wishing to close the buildings.  Kathol explained that Pioneer Hall was never closed, only evacuated during snow events because of the overloaded roof.  This was the fire marshal’s decision.  Kathol recalled that Community Center was closed by the building official because of Marquess’s report identifying structural weaknesses in the roof as “unacceptable”.  Kramer requested meeting with both the fire marshal and the building official.
     
    Kathol explained that since the original reports were issued on the two buildings, the City also had a second structural engineer from Marquess and Dale Shostrom look more closely into the issues (essentially a second and third opinion).  This was done during scoping and negotiation for preliminary engineering.  They identified additional potential problems that may have been overlooked in the first report and needed more exploration.    Kathol took some minutes during these meetings and will share them with the task force. 
     
    The task force toured Pioneer Hall and Community Center to obtain context on the reports and drawings for that building.  Community Center tour included the attic, where some roof framing problems were visible, and the basement, where foundation problems may exist (more exploration needed).  The task force requested all the clutter in the attic be removed to downstairs so they can have better access to framing.  The clutter was seen as an unnecessary load and fire hazard.
     
    The hillside behind the two buildings continuously sloughs onto the foundation and siding.  The task force recommended identifying the property line so that some recommendations regarding hillside treatment could be made.
     
    Kramer and Kathol were established as the primary points of contact for the task force and the City, respectively
     
  2. NEXT STEPS
    1. Kramer will issue a formal objective of the task force, with a list of items they will accomplish, a schedule, proposed meeting dates, and the nature, timing, and participants of the site visits they will need to make.
    2. Kathol will reach out to City Attorney and APRC to discuss the implications of private funding for public procurements.
    3. Kathol will post additional minutes from preliminary engineering scoping process
    4. Kathol will reach out to building official and fire marshal to see about their availability for a walk-through with the task force
    5. Kathol will identify whether staff are available to clear out the attic space in the Community Center
    6. Kathol will see whether a legal description of the lot is available.
       
                                                                                            
 

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