New library, city hall seem likely despite some problems

Within a few years, three new public buildings may stand on the three-acre site that now holds the former Sisters Middle School.

Two of the three possibilities are fairly certain -- a library and a city hall. The third, a new school administration building, is contingent upon several factors including a study of the cost of renovating the old brick high school building.

All of the projects face obstacles, however. Controversy is simmering over two aspects of the library plan, both related to a decision to base a new Sisters Library building on one built in La Pine five years ago.

On the recommendation of Deschutes Public Library District Director Michael Gaston, the district board last July awarded a contract for designing a new Sisters Library to Rich Turi, a Coos Bay architect who designed the La Pine library. He also designed a new library for Florence on the Oregon coast a few years ago while Gaston was director of the Siuslaw library district.

The Bulletin of Bend published a front-page story on the contract September 29, focusing on the fact that the Deschutes library board approved the contract after exempting itself from the standard state requirement that public projects be put out for bid. While legal authorities say the law permits such exemptions in certain circumstances, some local architects are unhappy with the process.

On a related matter, some Sisters area residents with strong interest in the library have been grumbling about the idea of adopting any type of replica of the La Pine library. Their voices may grow louder now that a library site has been acquired and attention will turn to design.

In The Bulletin account, Gaston defended his decision relative to Turi on grounds of economy. He said the exemption from public bidding was justified because the board plans to base the design of the Sisters Library on the plan of the La Pine building, which is a design Turi has copyrighted.

This should provide savings on architectural and engineering fees, Gaston explained.

The prospective new city hall has stimulated no controversy but faces a conventional obstacle -- financing. City Administrator Eileen Stein says there is no dissent within the city council from the idea that the city should have a new headquarters.

"And if it were up to my staff, we'd be out tomorrow," she added with a chuckle.

The city had been planning to use a two-story building it purchased from Multnomah Publishers for this purpose, but that plan was sidetracked by the discovery that it would cost too much to bring the building into compliance with access requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Stein said she'd like to maintain the same rough timetable the city had been working on with respect to the Multnomah building. That would put city workers in a new office building by the end of next year.

The city has been building up a "city hall remodeling fund" with the Multnomah building in mind, but Stein said that now "it is my plan to use that fund to pay for the land purchase (from the school district)."

That purchase, for $291,600, will deplete much of the remodeling fund.

A significant share of the needed money might be realized from sales of the Multnomah building and the current city hall property at the corner of Fir Street and Main Avenue.

Stein has no firm estimate of the size or cost of a new city hall, but says she is thinking in terms of about 5,000 square feet in a building that would run between $500,000 and $750,000. An architect will be hired to analyze space needs.

"It really just depends on pulling together a funding package for a new building," Stein said. "There is no disagreement on the need to get out of this building."