Public invited to weigh in on Linn County building options

CEDAR RAPIDS - Four days of open houses kick off tonight for the public to weigh in on the future location of Linn County offices.

The Board of Supervisors is looking for input on five options:

-Go back to the Administrative Office Building as it was before the flood.

This option would come at no direct cost for Linn County property taxpayers since the repairs would be paid by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The building is outside the 100- and 500-year flood plains, but it was flooded in June 2008. The county would add check valves to underground sewer lines that filled the Recorder's Office with muck.

-Renovate and expand the Administrative Office Building, 930 First St. SW.

The cost of this option depends on I-JOBS. If the supervisors can go back to the I-JOBS panel and get $8.8 million for the project, the cost to Linn taxpayers will only be about $186,000.

The I-JOBS panel initially rejected the county's application for the money based on a perceived lack of public support, even though the project scored well according to I-JOBS criteria. The supervisors can take a second run at it if enough money comes back from projects around the state that received I-JOBS funding but can be paid for in other ways.

Without an I-JOBS grant, the project will cost about $9 million, and where that money will come from is as yet unclear.

Renovating and expanding the building has been appealing to supervisors because it would mean they don't have to buy a new building but would gain 24,000 square feet of space and reorganize the offices to put the treasurer on the first floor.

The supervisors and their attorneys would move to a new third floor in the building. Bonding for the project would cost the owner of a $100,000 house $3.47 a year in property taxes over the next 20 years.

-Stay at Steve & Barry's at Westdale Mall.

This would require the county to buy and renovate the 115,000-square-foot building to the tune of $16.8 million. Only about $2.2 million would be covered by FEMA, leaving the county to pay $14.5 million, according to an architectural review that found dozens of major, expensive problems with the building.

Westdale has been a popular location because of its abundant parking and convenient office setup, but supervisors have long warned that the cost would be high, and the architect's report confirmed that. Supervisor Brent Oleson has said it is no longer an option for him.

Bonding for the project would cost the owner of a $100,000 house $5.63 a year in property taxes over the next 20 years.

-Buy and renovate the old Econofoods building on 51st Street NE.

Buying and renovating the 110,000-square-foot building, just east of Center Point Road NE and north of Collins Road, would cost about $15.6 million, with $2.2 million covered by FEMA.

Local developer Darryl High offered the building to the county in September, and because the building has plenty of space and parking, it was thrown into the mix of options.

Bonding for the project would cost the owner of a $100,000 house $5.05 a year in property taxes over the next 20 years.

-Share a facility with the city and/or school district.

This is the least settled of the five options because no plans have been put forward, the school district doesn't appear to be interested and neither the city nor county has committed to anything.

In theory, a shared location could include centralized facilities for administrative offices, vehicle maintenance, public safety functions and other departments.

The county estimates its share of such a project could cost $15.2 million, based on industry standards for new construction, though that number is far from certain. FEMA would cover $2.2 million of the cost. The rest of the bill would likely be covered by local bonding.

The first open house is tonight at 7 p.m. at Mount Vernon Middle School, 525 Palisades Rd., Mount Vernon.