Split-decision vote approves study of potential city hall move
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POCATELLO – A study that will help determine if a historic building in downtown Pocatello could become the Gate City’s new seat of government has been given the green light.
The Pocatello City Council engaged in a respectful debate Thursday over whether to take this next step toward relocating city hall to downtown. The discussion lasted about a half-hour before council members voted in favor of authorizing a preliminary study to determine whether moving city offices to the Historic Federal Building is feasible.
The study contract was authorized in a vote of 3-2, with council members Hayden Paulsen, Stacy Satterfield and Ann Swanson in favor; council members Dakota Bates and Brent Nichols voted against the motion. Council President Corey Mangum was not present for the vote.
During the meeting, Satterfield asked Pocatello’s planning and development director, Brent McLane, to share his thoughts on why he believes the proposed location could be the right place for a new Pocatello City Hall.
“(The Federal Building) is an amazing building. It is a historic building, and it has the potential to really shine in our downtown,” McLane said. “And so is it the right place? I wholeheartedly agree it is the right place. They just don’t build buildings like that anymore.”
Still, McLane emphasized the importance of conducting the preliminary study to determine whether the location is viable.
“Really, what we want to accomplish here is to determine whether or not this location is feasible,” he said. “What would the cost be to actually move City Hall to downtown and see how that would work?”
During the discussion, Bates questioned whether the timing was right to take this step, sharing something he said he’s learned from his time in city government.
“The further down a road you go, the harder it is to turn back,” he said. “And I understand that this is a study just to get more information … (but) it does make it just a little bit more hard for us to turn back and say no.”
McLane told the Council that the preliminary study, Phase 1 of the project, would include a number of components to assess the feasibility of the move. He said phase 1 is expected to cost the city a lump sum fee of $203,000 and will include:
- An analysis of the building’s condition.
- A review of necessary Americans with Disabilities Act updates.
- A general site assessment looking at long-term suitability.
- A study to assess vehicle parking needs.
- An analysis of which departments would move to the new City Hall, and how they’d be organized.
- Preliminary conceptual designs.
- Cost estimates for renovations.
- Public outreach sessions.
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McLane said VCBO, the architectural firm awarded the study contract, estimates that this process will take six months to complete. Then, actually purchasing and moving City Hall to the Federal Building would require a separate vote by the City Council.
During the meeting, Swanson took a moment to explain to audience members that this agenda item wasn’t a public hearing, but encouraged them to reach out to City Council and mayor by email to weigh in.
“I’ve had about three calls to my office today, all of them were regarding parking. … We definitely want to look at that, and I know that’s a huge concern for the public,” Dahlquist said.
The mayor said there are 89 employees working at the current City Hall, and the Federal Building has a parking lot directly behind it with 60 stalls.
“That won’t accommodate everything, but most definitely we need to look around and look at other options. There may be lots nearby — that we’ve talked about — that are leasable,” Dahlquist said.
“On that point, Mayor,” Bates began, “…I feel like we are leaving out some considerations that are important when it comes to where City Hall is located, and what we’re going to do.”
While Bates agreed that there are potential economic benefits for the downtown area, he questioned whether the Federal Building was the right location to assess.
“I understand the economic impact of 100 people being in a certain area every day, but there also is the flip side of that, of are we making it easy for 100 people to come to City Hall every day?” Bates said.
Bates talked about visiting the Federal Building on Wednesday and said, “I can’t make the determinations that the architecture firm would make, but I think it’s obvious to the naked eye that there’s some real concerns about ADA compliance with the building, parking.”
When McLane addressed the City Council, he spoke to these concerns.
“Historic buildings are used all over the United States. … Buildings older than this (are used in) Europe. … You can make them work. That’s not a reason not to do it. … That’s a hurdle that can be overcome fairly easily,” McLane said.
Paulsen, who later made the motion for approval, said that he was also concerned about the funding. He said he understood the concerns Bates raised, but “that’s also the point of the study, to figure out the ADA and the parking.”
He went on to say he doesn’t see the current City Hall as one that will work in the long-term. “I mean, this is an old grocery store,” he said.
According to a description of the current City Hall in the attached document to the agenda item, “the building was constructed more than 40 years ago as a single-story, large format retail property.”
Satterfield also spoke on the current City Hall building, saying her perspective on it changed after she joined the City Council.
“When you’re in this room, there’s beautiful windows. This is a great area of City Hall. Now … I’m a little shocked. There are no windows. (Staff) are crammed in,” she said. “The citizens don’t see that. This is the best room in the house.”
Swanson laid out the city’s options for addressing the need to make changes to City Hall, saying they all will cost the city money.
“Whether we refurbish this spot, whether we buy a new piece of land somewhere else and build a new city hall, whether we take on the refurbishing and outfitting of the Federal Building, those all have really, really big price tags. That’s not something we’re going to be able to avoid,” Swanson said. “There’s the option of doing nothing, but we’re busting at the seams here.”
“And I agree with that,” Bates replied. “But I guess the caveat to that, to me, is it doesn’t have to happen today or this year or even next year. I think there’s time for us to really study the issue.”
Bates advocated for a broader study to be conducted, which would look “at all of our options, including city-owned property.” Nichols agreed with this point.
“I’d love to see City Hall downtown, but I do have some serious concerns about whether we can actually afford it at this time,” Nichols said.
McLane addressed this, saying that the city of Pocatello doesn’t own any other property that could function as a city hall, except for the current facility. McLane also said that the planning department had already considered other downtown buildings as potential city hall locations.
“(Those buildings) didn’t have a space like this, where you could have a Council chamber. The Federal Building has that because they used to have courtroom spaces, and so we have a building that was built to fit the needs of what we have,” McLane said.
The mayor pointed out that even if the City Council eventually voted to purchase the Federal Building, there’s nothing requiring them to move immediately, and the space could continue to be rented out to tenants or could eventually be sold again.
“The thing that’s important to remember is if we purchase this, we have an asset,” Dahlquist said. “Purchasing the building is not throwing money down the drain.”
McLane added that the Federal Building is an “opportunity” that might not be around forever.
“The real crux of this is if this is the time to invest in an opportunity that we have to potentially move into a building that may not be available in the near future, and if we don’t act on this, it’s an opportunity lost,” McLane said.
Photo gallery of the interior the Federal Building:
