Mayor-elect Corbett wants a library site in January, and he wants a quick vote on a return to the Veterans Memorial Building

Mayor-elect Ron Corbett couldn't let last night's near-three-hour budget meeting end without making it know he wants quick decisions about where to build the new downtown library and about returning city government to the Veterans Memorial Building

Corbett, who takes office Jan. 2, asked the city's new library director if the library board can pick a site for a new downtown library at its meeting Jan. 7 and pass the recommendation on to the City Council.

Corbett said the new council then can make its decision – the one that decides the matter - on the site later in January.

Library Director Bob Pasicznyuk said the library board, which he noted was eager to see the library project move ahead, surely could come up with a recommendation.

The board had said it would leave the site selection entirely up to the council a couple months ago.

After much public input, the library board and the City Council both seemed to agree that the choice of a site is between of one of three spots near Greene Square Park and a site between First and Second avenues SE and Seventh and Eighth streets SE.

Corbett further asked Pasicznyuk if, in fact, the library board would build the new $45-million with money other than city tax dollars. The library director said he never likes to the use the word “never,” but he said the board's plan is to close any funding gap for the new building with private donations. Much of the funding is in place for the new building and is coming from Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief funds and from state I-JOBS funds.

Corbett next turned his attention to the city's flood-damaged Veterans Memorial Building and said he would ask the City Council very early in the year to decide if city government is going back to the Vets building or if the council wants to build a new city hall.

Corbett has said the city can't afford a new city hall, and last night he seemed to suggest that the city has yet to obtain a good objective analysis of how the space in the Veterans Memorial Building can be maximized for use as city offices.

Someone who wants to build a new city hall, he said, would want to make sure the Veterans Memorial Commission has a chance to satisfy any and all of its space needs in the building while someone who does not want to build a new city would want to maximize space for city offices while taking into account the Veterans Commission, he said.

Council member-elect Don Karr, who also wants city government back in the Veterans Memorial Building, noted that the building only had 12 inches of water on the first floor during the June 2008 flood.

City Manager Jim Prosser noted that the new council will decide what it wants to use the building for. He said he would show Corbett and Karr a space analysis done by OPN Architects Inc. The analysis says more bathrooms need to be installed as well as a new stairwell and that some space will be taken up moving electrical and mechanical system higher into the building.

Corbett noted that the project architect for the renovation could be someone other than OPN.