October 2002

Ran: Poway News Chieftan - October 10, 2002

City Hall financing plan OK'd

By Tom Chambers

One day after breaking ground on a new City Hall complex, City Council members Tuesday night unanimously approved a plan to fund the construction project.

The city will sell $15 million worth of financing certificates - which work like bonds - to build the two-building complex. Certificate owners will receive shares in the building's leases and they will be paid off over 30 years.

City Manager Jim Bowersox said the timing couldn't be better because interest rates are relatively low, which means the amount the city will have to pay in interest will be lower than usual. It is estimated the city will pay about $700,000 a year at a total cost of $21 million. Total construction cost of the project is expected to be $14.6 million. The actual amount will be based on the construction contract for the project after bids are received and awarded in early December.

The new complex will have two buildings - one general office building and a smaller building for City Council Chambers. The office building will be 50,000 square feet and two stories tall. I will be build as a standard office building with relatively inexpensive concrete walls over a steel frame.

The smaller building will be a 6,000-square-foot multipurpose building for City Council meetings and other events. It will have a conference room, and outdoor patio and movable furniture so it can be used for a various functions other than city meetings. It will also expand the number of seats available from the 70 in the old council chambers to more than 120.

The two buildings will be more than five times the size of the current City Hall, which was about 10,000 square feet. The city took over the current building from the water district when Poway incorporated in 1980. Since that time, the city has added trailers to the site that are now about 12 years old.

The new complex will be able to house more city departments, such as Economic Development and Community Services, currently in offices on Poway Road. Public Works will remain at Lake Poway.

"It's not an ostentatious building, but one which will be functional and highly technical," said Mayor Mickey Cafagna at the ground breaking ceremony Monday, noting that the complex will be wired for computers, teleconferencing and computer-based presentations.

The new complex is being built at the current City Hall location on Civic Center Drive. City offices will remain open during construction - which will take place mainly in the parking lot and come within a few feet of the existing building.

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