City wants space for 35 at City Hall

Cedar Rapids is asking the Veterans Memorial Commission for about 11,000 square feet in the Veterans Memorial Building, space enough for 35 city employees to return to City Hall.

City Manager Jeff Pomeranz and his assistant Sandi Fowler met this week with Pete Welch, chairman of the Veterans Memorial Commission, and Mike Jager, the commission's facilities manager, to make the request.

Pomeranz said he won't be dragged into the old, sometimes contentious debate with the commission over who owns the building on May's Island, home to City Hall.

The question is hard to avoid as renovation of the historical, flood-damaged building begins, funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state I-JOBS money.

The city's space request would allow the City Council to return to the building's fourth-floor council chambers and also would return offices for council members, the city manager, city clerk and city attorney to the building.

Before the June 2008 flood, about 80 city employees occupied about 30,000 square feet in the building, which also housed the city Departments of Human Resources, Finance and Community Development.

Those departments, along with the Civil Rights Office, now will take up residence in the city-owned, former federal courthouse just down the street.

The former courthouse has about 38,000 square feet available for office use, Fowler said.

At the Veterans Memorial Commission's meeting this week, members made it clear they have their own priorities for the building, including expanded museum space.

So what happens if the city decides that it's important for improved customer service to have the City Clerk's Office on the first floor and the commission says no?

Pomeranz said he, his staff and the City Council can express their preferences for space in the building, adding, “We haven't been told no on anything.”

He expects facilities manager Jager and the commission to get back to him with options for how the city's request for use of the building might work.

The commission has its architect and the city has another that is helping with space needs in the federal courthouse.

It is common for Veterans Memorial commissioners to refer to the commission as the owner of the Veterans Memorial Building. This week, the city's Fowler said the commission “controls and manages” the building.

In the next 30 days, the city must submit a document to the state I-JOBS board to secure the

$4.4 million in I-JOBS funds for the building renovation. The program requires the recipient of the grant to own the building. Fowler said the city and commission would both sign it.

“We need to work together, and we're not going to argue over turf at this time,” Pomeranz said. “Yes, I've heard a number of times, ‘Who owns the building, who owns the land?' But right now the most important thing is to get the building open again.”

When that might happen is unclear. The City Council had hoped to hold meetings in the building by February, but Pomeranz said it won't be that soon.