Edgerton tabs committee to design new city hall
EDGERTON — After a successful referendum last month, Edgerton is moving forward to make a new City Hall a reality.
Mayor Erik Thompson appointed an ad-hoc design committee at Monday's city council meeting. The committee will discuss everything from policy decisions, such as how much green technology the building should incorporate, to mundane details such as countertops, said Ramona Flanigan, city administrator.
"Their task is to work with the architect at this point to ensure that all the components that people want are included," she said.
Voters on June 2 approved by 17 votes spending up to $1.2 million on a new City Hall. It will be built in the parking lot next to the existing building at 12 Albion St.
Members of the ad-hoc committee that recommended the referendum were invited to participate on the design committee, and many accepted, Flanigan said.
They will join new members, such as Ron Hagemann, who works with renewable plastics and knows about sustainable building practices, Flanigan said.
"Ron will be a great asset on the committee and seems to be well versed on funding opportunities," she said.
The committee will decide questions such as how many offices to include, what the building should look like and how big council chambers should be.
One of the first decisions will be when construction should begin, Flanigan said. If construction begins in fall, crews will have to work through the winter. On the other hand, if the city waits until spring, construction costs could rise.
Construction should take less than a year, she said.
The city conducted an environmental assessment on the parking lot and found relatively little contamination, Flanigan said. Officials hope to meet with state agencies this week to see how much clean-up will cost and what kind of funding is available.
The city also might apply for stimulus money to help pay for construction. The state is giving out energy-efficiency grants for municipal buildings, but it's prioritizing existing buildings rather than new ones, Flanigan said.
The new committee could start meeting as soon as next week, she said.
Members of the committee include Casey Burns, Joan Fox, Jim Kapellen, Jim Klein, Larry MacKenzie, Gary Beyer, Ken Westby, Dave Thomas and Sean Day. Steve French and Mark Gregory are alternatives. There also is a space on the committee for a veteran, if the veteran's committee would like to appoint someone, Flanigan said.
Jul 22, 2009 at 10:53 a.m.
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beeE80, you are wrong. It was way cheaper to repair the old pool than build new. The pond was always there long before the old pool was built and most of the old swimming pool site isn't used by anyone. Nelson Young did construct a few buildings, but not of any size. Not to mention the large yellow building is where LeMans Corporation was before the city forced them to build elsewhere. There used to be three ponds at that location at one time. They were all dug to retrieve the clay used to make the brick in many tobacco warehouses and buildings downtown. You also understand wrong about the ball diamonds at Central Park. They were positioned in a way that a fly ball couldn't come close to a house. If that's the case, guess it's time to move the golf course as well. There's nothing wrong with updating or change, but it needs to be done in a way to preserve important attributes of the city. By haphazardly throwing a new building here and there, changes the entire feel of the town.
Your history of Edgerton is very inaccurate. Try to refrain from regurgitating gossip and have an original thought.
Jul 9, 2009 at 1:15 p.m.
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etownguy, i now understand your failed attempt at humor and sarcasm with the three story pool rip, however I'm not sure where you can say the city screwed up with the new pool. it cost less to build then fixing the old pool, the old pool area is now a nice little pond for the young and old to enjoy plus it also allowed room for nelson young a place to expand their business. central park as it was i understand was great with the baseball games always being overcrowded, fly balls breaking at least one windshield a week. but i can understand how redesigning racetrack park to accommodate all the sporting events with no broken windshields wouldn't sound good to anyone. so yeah keeping the city in its same old slump and not taking advantage of expanding and making things better for the city at large instead of keeping things exactly the same for a small few, because the thought of anything changing would upset the balance of the world.
also im very proud of you for being over 30 and gainfully employed, although i'm not sure what that has to do with anything, but way to go anyway.
i'm also a little confused about the historic aspect of a parking lot downtown where some old tobacco warehouses used to be before they were torched for insurance money years ago by a local resident that cared so much about the city. I understand the downtown area is old and some may say historic, and i dont disagree, but that doesn't mean things, can't and won't change.
also you missed an "e"
Jul 8, 2009 at 2:25 p.m.
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bee80, the "three level swimming pool" downtown is the new condos that are of modern finish, but in a historic area. By calling them a three story swimming pool was referencing how the city of Edgerton royally screwed up when they ruined Central Park for the new/smaller pool in the 90's. The city still allowed a modern looking building such as the current police department and "CONDOS" to be built in a historic section of town.
Also, I've lived in Edgerton for 34 years/all my life and am gainfully employed locally.
Jul 8, 2009 at 1:59 p.m.
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This should be a hoot - perhaps they never learned that "a camel is a horse designed by committee."
Jul 8, 2009 at 9:50 a.m.
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Have you ever been to Edgerton, First off the pool is two levels, and is filled with people from the tri-county area every day (the temp is above 65 degrees,) second the pool isn't downtown or a building. And if by historic downtown buildings you mean old and falling apart from years of neglect, by shady slum lords, then yeah let's all hope the planning committee doesn't go for that look. Lastly the city didn't build the Police dept. they bought it so you can't, or shouldn't just ignorantly lump that into the mix.
Jul 8, 2009 at 9:27 a.m.
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Hopefully whatever they decide this building will fit in with the architecture of the other historic buildings downtown. Of course I'm not talking about the police station or the three level swimming pool that no one goes too.
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