×

Future City hall repairs add up

City Hall is fast becoming a money pit, city officials attested.

In summer, hot air often blows on the necks of employees in second-floor controller’s and finance offices.

Likewise, in the winter, people visiting a City Council meeting may want to take their coats some nights as air conditioning has swept through the chamber.

“All true,” said Joseph Gerardi, city codes administrator.

Then, there’s the accessibility and security needs, he said.

Overall, the estimated costs to repair and bring the building up to standards acceptable by the Americans with Disabilities Act are into the millions, he said.

An elevator is not expected to pass inspection, he said.

A rear ramp leads to the police parking area and is not level with the sidewalk.

The police department is the only office area that is locked down from threats, he said.

Then there is the question of timing.

With seven months left before voters elect the mayor, is it the right time for the administration and City Council to invest in a building that may be sold or have its offices leased, asked Nicholas Grimes, city treasurer and tax collector.

Accessibility is everyone’s right.

“The building’s only ramp does not connect to a sidewalk and starts at a point where police park their cars,” said Michael Snyder, an architect with Gannett-Fleming Inc., echoing Gerardi.

Government facilities can’t deny equal access to people because they have disabilities, he explained.

The building was constructed between 1888 and 1891, of gray limestone, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 as a post office.

So, besides following ADA compliance, the ramp has been designed with that purpose in mind.

The proposal would provide single-point of entry at West Fourth Street and lead people to greet a security guard and provisions blocking free flow access to the building, Snyder said.

The ramp, as proposed, would provide entrance to the left entrance doors, he said. “It also satisfies a requirement of equal access to those with disabilities, who must today go around the back,” he said.

While the front ramp solved that federal handicapped accessibility laws, it also may solve the security problem.

“As people enter into the lobby, they will be directed to the left, opposite to the elevator entrance,” Snyder said. “The lobby would be converted to a security/lobby area,” he said.

A guard would allow access to either the elevator or to the right of the building to the stairs or tax office, according to the plan.

But with security comes issues of credibility of the guard, police questions because the union says police are in charge of security for the building and ease of access to and from the building.

“They may make the building safer for employees and visitors but they also may crimp the ease of using the tax office,” Grimes said. “We have thousands of people visiting us each year,” he said. “They have told me they get upset having to go through security at the county courthouse to pay their tax bills.”

“I have concerns about making it too challenging for individuals to access the building that has been traditionally easy as walking up to the treasurer’s window,” he said.

Besides these three proposed projects, other accessibility needs add to the tally.

The bathroom stalls must be updated, the door knobs must affixed with handles or levers that can be pulled down or pushed up and if there is a fire alarm, the lights can’t be flashing in a strobed way or it can cause seizures, Gerardi said.

The costs of these repairs, many melded into accessibility needs, is running into the millions, Gerardi said.

That doesn’t account for the exterior, he said.

The parking lot must be flat with a van that would provide handicapped individuals rides to visit the building, Gerardi said.

“We don’t have that parking plan,” he said.

Former Council President Bill Hall described the building as a “money pit,” and suggested it to be sold and offices move into a more modern facility, perhaps one that could be worked out in conjunction with the county.

But it never happened.

When these multi-million-dollar list of projects were brought up to the mayor, Mayor Gabriel J. Campana, who is seeking the Republican nomination of Lycoming County Commission in the May 21 primary election, said he presented a plan and funding strategy to council.

“I have no more to say,” he said.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today