Prosser says city apt to cancel October open houses on City Hall and other flood-damaged buildings

City Hall will likely postpone its next round of open houses on the city's key flood-damaged buildings, which were slated for Oct. 6 and 7, City Manager Jim Prosser said Monday.

Prosser said postponing the October open houses had nothing to do with the November city election.

Instead, he said the city needed more time to “refine” its information about the options for City Hall as well as other key flood-damaged city buildings, including the downtown library, central fire station and public works facility.

Even so, if the October open houses are postponed, residents and taxpayers will have to wait until after the Nov. 3 election to get a better feel about whether City Council members want to build a new $50-plus million City Hall or if they want to return City Hall to the flood-damaged Veterans Memorial Building on May's Island. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will help pay for some of the cost of renovation, but it will pay nothing for a new City Hall.

No one on the council has made it clear what they prefer. Six of the nine council seats are on the Nov. 3 ballot.

Mayoral candidate Ron Corbett repeated on Monday that the city should use existing city-owned buildings, and not build a new City Hall. The city also is slated to take ownership of the existing federal courthouse just down the street from the Veterans Memorial Building, which also might be used for city offices, Corbett said.

Soon after the city's August open houses on city facilities, the City Council once again asked Linn County and the Cedar Rapids Community Schools if they would reopen discussions about the possibility of co-locating services with the city in the same buildings. Earlier in the year, the county and schools quit those discussions, but in August, they agreed to meet again.

Prosser said the entities have met once about a week ago.

By delaying the city's October open house events, the city also might be better able to have the county and school district participate in the city events “in a meaningful way,” Prosser said.

He said it would be beneficial for taxpayers to review the plans of the county and school district as they review the city's plans even if the three entities don't intend to co-locate.

Prosser said the city's options for a City Hall now may focus on a centralized plan that would require a new building and a decentralized plan that would use existing buildings like the Veterans Memorial Building.

No one has ever accused Prosser of advocating for a return to the Veterans Memorial Building.

He said Monday that city officials now are discovering that returning to the Veterans Memorial Building may cost more than they had expected. He said the building also may have less usable space than the city thought as well.