Brisbane moves ahead on City Hall remodel

Green light: The Brisbane City Council on Monday approved the final $2.4 million investment to renovate the building that houses City Hall, purchased in the mid-’90s. (Juan Carlos Pometta Betancourt/Special to The Examiner)

BRISBANE — When most San Mateo County cities are preparing for the worst economic crisis in decades, this small city has allocated $2.4 million to complete renovations on City Hall.

The city will try to pay for most of that with municipal bonds — an almost unheard of endeavor in recent months.

But Brisbane isn’t your typical city. The bayfront town of about 3,500 has long had very healthy reserves, enough to be able to run city operations for at least six months. And though the city is now facing tougher times — perhaps a $2 million to $4 million shortfall during the next five years — city leaders believe they can handle the crisis without layoffs or massive cuts to services.

The City Hall remodeling project has been in the works for many years, and is, in fact, mostly complete, according to City Manager Clay Holstine.

The city bought the building in the mid-1990s from a valve-making company, City Councilman Michael Barnes said. The building was sorely in need of renovations, since it housed the Police Department but lacked a space to question suspects and witnesses, securely store evidence or hold suspects, Holstine said. It was also not seismically safe.

The project was authorized years ago, but was held up for at least two years when its architect abruptly went out of business and passed away, Barnes said.

The first phases of the project were completed late last year, and just after Thanksgiving, the city moved into the building from its temporary home across the street.

The final $2.4 million investment, approved Monday by the City Council, will pay to complete the project, finishing the ventilation system, adding male and female locker and shower rooms to the Police Department, fixing the parking lot, and doing some paint work,
Holstine said.

About $400,000 of the project will be paid for from the city’s rainy-day funds, but nearly $2 million will be paid for with municipal bonds — which have been almost impossible to come by since financial institutions began going bankrupt last fall.

“To call it an ‘unusual move’ right now is kind,” Holstine said. “It’s really an unchartered time to try to get municipal bonds. We’re going to be checking the bond market in late January, early February, but we have 18 months to go forward to it, so we may very well have to wait.”

Brisbane Councilman Cy Bologoff said the City Council went forward because they wanted to finish the project that already had $6 million invested in it.

“Would we attempt to do it today in this kind of unpredictable economy?” he said. “I’m not sure. But we’re very lucky to have the reserves we do. We’re not rich by any means, but we can hold our own.”