North Liberty discussing civic campus for city services

NORTH LIBERTY - Facing a continually growing population, which in turn increases the need for public services, North Liberty city departments are getting cramped.

One possible solution in the preliminary stage of discussion could address North Liberty's space needs in such departments as administration, police and fire, in one single building.

Last month, officials with Shive-Hattery consulting firm presented the North Liberty council with design renderings for a civic campus project on Cherry Street - a building that would provide new and larger facilities to the city council, police, telecommunications, legal, human resources, administration, and water and billing departments, while also expanding the nearby fire department.

Ryan Heiar, North Liberty city administrator, acknowledged that the potential project is both ambitious and preliminary.

'We know this is a pretty large project, this first phase looked at what are our needs and how can we meet those needs well into the future,” he said. 'The next step is to take it out and get some public reaction and now start looking at the financial impacts, what are the options in financing a project like this and how could we make it work? We just have to find out what makes the most sense for the community.”

A public input session has not yet been scheduled, but Heiar said public comment will be crucial for the project.

Currently, North Liberty's council chambers and several city departments including administration are located in leased space on Quail Creek Circle, the police department has taken up shop in the former city hall at 5 E. Cherry St., the communications department is operating in the community recreation center and the fire department is located at 25 W. Cherry St.

For the police department, Chief Diane Venenga said the former city hall building has become cramped over the years as the department adds at least one officer every year to its now 18-person force.

'As the community grows, the demands and needs grow for our services and we want to make sure we have adequate services,” she said.

Venenga said a new space would also provide added security, additional interview rooms and other amenities for the department.

Mayor Amy Nielsen said the civic campus would not only offer more space for all departments and their growing staffs, but the facility would add a benefit to the public.

'It's nice to have everything that the public needs all in one spot, they always know where they need to go,” she said.

While the project has been deemed need for the community, the topic of adding space has been discussed in the past for North Liberty and there has been no formal commitment made to the latest project yet by the council.

'It's been talked about for a while and has really gone through several iterations,” Heiar said.