Back to the drawing board for West Ward

It will be back to the drawing board concerning the former West Ward school building and how to fit the building and property into plans for the city.

City staff, with the help of an architect, will compile concrete numbers on the costs of building a new city facility and a fire station on the site, as well as costs of converting the former West Ward school into a municipal building.

The city will then decide what is the most viable option to pursue -- renovation or new construction -- and present its recommendation to the public for discussion at townhall meetings.

Possible ways to pay for the construction could be bonding, using city sales tax revenue. The city already has set aside for the past two years $1 million in city sales tax proceeds for a city facility.

"It's been my experience that whatever is least expensive has the best chance of passing," Mayor Dennis Berry noted. "But experience doesn't always mean you're successful."

Originally, the city had planned on using neighborhood stabilization funds it received to demolish the school building, one of several buildings in the city slated to be torn down with the grant. But the recommendation from the Nebraska State Historical Society that the school could potentially be listed as a historical site has blocked the use of those funds to tear down the school and the McCook City Council Monday night discussed various sides of the issue.

Council members viewed a PowerPoint presentation that showed preliminary designs of a city facility on the West Ward site and the current deteriorating condition of West Ward. The design calls for city offices and a law enforcement center at 15,000 square feet, with the entrance on D Street. A fire station would have five bays exiting on West Fifth and equipment entering on C Street. Staff and public parking would be on the east side, facing West Fourth.

It would be a tight fit, City Manager Kurt Fritsch said, but the final design would be driven by whether West Ward is incorporated into the site or demolished.

Prospects for receiving a federal grant to construct a new fire station do not look promising, said Fire Chief Marc Harpham, with the first round of fire fighting assistance grants already awarded and none going to any Nebraska fire departments. A second round consisting of $45 million is still a possibility but most departments receiving funding from that probably already have been contacted, he said.

The fire station design that was submitted in the grant proposal came to $3 million. City staff, with help from the architect who designed the fire station, will trim that down, depending on what the council wants to keep in or cut out, City Manager Kurt Fritsch said.

Using very rough figures, staff has estimated that city administration offices with handicap-accessible entrances and a police station could cost about $1.5 to $2.5 million and, including a new fire station, $3 million. Rehabbing West Ward would be about $300,000 to $500,000 more than that. Cost of demolishing West Ward has been figured at around $162,000. West Ward is restorable, Fritsch said, "but at what price and for what purpose?"

The idea behind a city facility is to build something that will meet city needs now as well as into the future, he said, instead of cobbling something together.

Mayor Berry suggested bringing the issue to the public. Do citizens want just a new fire station, or a city municipal building, to re-use West Ward or to tear it down? Getting a feel of what the public wants will help the council move forward and re-tool its efforts, the mayor said, which Councilman Lonnie Anderson endorsed.

Councilman Aaron Kircher asked if the vote would be on constructing city municipal buildings or the bonding, and Berry responded, "both," as any time a bond issue is presented to the public for a vote, it must state how the bond will be used.

Kircher expressed concern that the bond issue would be brought back multiple times and questioned if that was the intent of the council. "What happens if it fails?" he asked. "Will we bring it back with a bush moved from there to over here?"

Councilman Mike Gonzales said that was putting the cart before the horse and that when the school was trying to get a bond passed for improvements, the issue was examined thoroughly each time it failed. "It took three times before the district got it right." He later clarified that the bond was analyzed and re-tooled, based on what people wanted the bond to be used for.

Fritsch commented that whether the public approved or voted down a bond for new city facilities didn't change the facts. "Do we need a fire and police station? The answer is yes ... that doesn't go away just because people didn't want it," he said.

Councilman Kircher also mentioned offering the current public safety center with its holding cells to the county, which Councilman Jerry Calvin agreed was a good idea. A former police officer, Councilman Calvin said city police could be more productive without jail duties, freeing up more time and "putting officers back on the street."

Councilman Calvin also cautioned not to cut out too much from the fire department design, so it will stand the test of time in the future. It may cost more now, such as incorporating "green" features," but pay off in the future as a functional facility.

With discussion winding down, McCook resident John Hubert told the council that at first he wanted the school building preserved but has changed his mind and would prefer to see a new facility. The Historical Society should have came down to look at the building, he said, but like they did with the previous buildings, "they didn't come down then and they're not here now."

The amount of interest in memorabilia from the school has been surprizing, added Fritsch, with a number of people expressing their wish to have a brick from the building. Some of those bricks could be used for entryway signs to the city, he said, or in a memorial sign at the site.

Mayor Berry reiterated that the he and the council were not opposed to preservation, citing the YMCA, the Keystone, the Carnegie Library and the Norris Park bandshell. "We're not trying to tear down every building older than we are," he joked.

Councilman Kircher commented that those who wanted to save West Ward were more than welcome to use their own funds, instead of "on the taxpayers' dime."